The  Century  Magazine. 


Vol.   XLV. 


APRIL,    1893. 


N<5.  6. 


THE    CHICAGO    ANARCHISTS     OF     1886: 

THE     CRIME,    THE    TRIAL,    AND    THE    PUNISHMENT. 


V,Y     THK     jrDOK      WHO      I'RESIDEl 


Ami  the  la-fj  is  com  in  on  sense. 


X  ^jfiY    \C   \ 


ORAWN    BY  A     CASTAJGNE  I 

The  Monument  to  the  Martyred  Police. 

ON  the  morning  of  Friday,  the  twentieth 
da}'  of  August,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord 
one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  eighty-six, 
twelve  men,  ranging  in  age  from  fifty-three 
years  downward  to  early  manhood,  walked 
two  by  two  from  the  Revere  House,  a  hotel  in 
Copyright,  1S93,  by  The  Cent 


the  city  of  Chicago,  to  the  building  in  which 
the  criminal  court  of  Cook  County  held  its 
sessions.  The  hotel  is  on  the  southeast  corner 
of  Clark  and  Michigan  streets,  and  the  court- 
house was  (it  has  been  torn  down  to  be  replaced 
by  a  better)  on  the  north  side  of  Michigan 
street,  a  little  east  of  the  hotel.  The  men  were 
guarded  from  all  communication  with  any  per- 
son by  a  bailiff"  of  that  court  at  each  end  of  the 
short  procession  which  their  ranks  composed. 

The  case  of  the  anarchists  was  on  trial,  and 
these  —  Frank  S.  Osborne,  James  H.  Cole, 
Charles  B.  Todd,  Alanson  H.  Reed,  James 
H.  Brayton,  Theodore  E.  Denker,  George  W . 
Adams,  Charles  H.  Ludwig,  John  B.  Greiner, 
Andrew  Hamilton,  Harry  S.  Sandford,  and  Scott 
G.Randall — were  thejurors  selected  and  sworn 
to  try  the  issue  between  the  people  of  the  State 
of  Illinois  and  August  Spies,  Michael  Schwab, 
Samuel  Fielden,  Albert  R.  Parsons,  Adolph 
Fischer,  Cieorge  Engel,  Louis  Lingg,  and  Os- 
car W.  Neebe,  indicted  for  the  murder  of 
Mathias  J.  Degan,  on  the  fourth  day  of  May. 
1886,  in  Chicago.  Upon  that  trial  the  State 
was  represented  by  Juhus  S.  Grinnell,  State's 
Attorney,  Francis  W.  Walker  and  Edmund 
Furthman,  Assistant  State's  Attorneys,  and 
George  C.  Ingham  of  counsel ;  the  accused 
were  attended  by  William  P.  Black,  Wilham 
A.  Foster,  Sigmund  Zeisler,  and  Moses  Salo- 
mon as  counsel;  and  I,  as  judge,  presided. 

The  short  journey  that  these  jurors  were  then 

URY  Co.      All  rights   reserved. 

803 


8o4 


THE    CHICAGO   ANARCHISTS   OF  1886. 


making  was  the  last  one  of  the  many  they  made 
over  the  same  route ;  every  day,  except  Sun- 
days, from  the  fourteenth  day  of  July  preceding, 
they  had,  several  times  each  day,  under  like 
restraint  by  the  watchfulness  of  bailiifs,  paced 
to  and  fro  between  the  hotel  and  the  court- 
house ;  and  some  of  them  had  done  so  from 
the  twenty-first  day  of  the  month  before,  on 
which  day  the  trial  began.  Twenty-one  days 
passed  away  in  selecting  the  jury;  981  men 
were  called  to  the  chairs  where  the  jury  sat, 
and  were  sworn  and  questioned,  before  the 
dozen  who  tried  the  case  were  accepted.    At 


left,  he  avoided  all  recognition  of  any  acquain- 
tance who  might  be  in  the  multitude  that 
filled  the  street.  The  time  for  the  court  to  con- 
vene was  nearly  an  hour  off;  yet  Michigan 
street  was  thronged,  so  that  vehicles  went 
around  another  way,  and  the  people  pressed 
upon  one  another  to  make  a  path  for  the  jury. 

Upon  those  jurors,  and  the  case  pending  be- 
fore them,  the  attention  of  the  civilized  world 
had  been  fixed  for  weeks,  and  now  that  world 
awaited  their  verdict  with  painful  anxiety. 

We  who  participated  in  the  trial  did  not  know 
until  it  was  ended  with  what  interest  we  were 


all  times  the  dozen  chairs  were  kept  full,  and 
when  a  man  went  into  one  of  them  he  became 
a  close  prisoner,  not  to  be  released  until  he  was 
rejected  as  unfit  to  serve  on  the  jury ;  or,  if  he 
became  one  of  the  chosen  twelve,  not  until  he 
and  his  fellows  gave  the  final  verdict. 

On  all  former  occasions  when  the  jurors  were 
on  the  street,  they  had  conversed  with  one  an- 
other, had  looked  about  them,  at  the  people, 
at  the  buildings,  at  the  trifling  incidents  of  street 
life.  On  this  morning  each  man  walked  in  si- 
lence ;  turning  his  eyes  neither  to  the  right  nor 


watched  by  all  Christendom.  The  jurors  had 
no  access,  either  by  newspapers  or  conversation, 
to  any  source  of  information,  being  at  all  times 
either  in  court,  in  a  room  set  apart  for  them 
in  the  court-house,  in  a  suite  of  rooms  at  the 
hotel,  or  in  a  body  taking  exercise  on  the 
streets;  and  always,  when  not  in  court,  guarded 
by  bailiffs.  The  counsel  engaged  in  the  case 
were  fully  occupied,  when  out  of  court,  pre- 
paring for  the  work  of  the  next  session.  I  read 
the  papers  very  little,  and  declined  all  conver- 
sation upon  the  subject  that  occupied  my  busi- 


G  030^0 


ness  hours.  But  we  did  know  that 
the  immense  court-room  —  much 
too  large  for  the  easy  and  orderly 
conduct  of  an  exciting  trial  — 
was  constantly  crowded.  The  room 
was  a  hundred  feet  long,  and  the 
width  and  height  were  proportioned 
to  the  length.  Across  each  end  ex- 
tended a  gallery.  These  galleries, 
with  the  exception  of  one  afternoon 
when  the  expediency  of  the  usual 
rule  was  shown  by  the  disorder  that 
broke  out  in  one  of  them,  were  kept 
closed  and  empty.  At  the  begin- 
ning of  each  session  of  the  court 
I  announced  that  no  person  would 
be  permitted  to  stand  in  the  court- 
room, except  in  the  way  of  duty ; 
that  no  one  could  lounge  on  rail- 
ings, or  on  the  arms  of  seats,  but  that 
every  spectator  must  be  down  in  a 
seat,  or  leave  the  room ;  and  this 
rule  was  strictly  enforced.  Also,  that 
there  must  be  no  talking,  whisper- 
ing, or  laughing,  and  that  any  token 
of  approval  or  censure  of  any  of  the 
proceedings  would  cause  the  im- 
mediate expulsion  of  the  offender 
from  the  room.  I  had  been  in- 
formed that  upon  one  noted  trial 
in  that  room  there  had  been  great 
disorder,  and  I  determined  to  pre- 
vent a  repetition  of  that  disgrace. 
With  one  considerable  and  one  very  slight  ex- 
ception, there  was  no  audible  expression  of  feel- 
ing by  any  of  the  audience  throughout  the  trial. 
Reluctantly,  when  Mr.  Grinnell  was  about  to 
begin  his  closing  argument  to  the  jury,  at  the 
solicitation,  without  his  knowledge,  of  many 
of  the  baihffs  in  attendance,  and  upon  their 
assurances  that  they  could  prevent  all  disor- 
der, I  permitted  the  galleries  to  be  opened.  As 
soon  as  people  began  to  enter  them,  I  re- 
ceived a  note  from  Mrs.  Black,  wife  of  the 
leading  counsel  for  the  defense, — shebeingcon- 
stantly  in  attend  ance, —  stating  that  many  per- 
sons had  desired  to  hear  his  speech,  and  had 
been  prevented,  as  they  could  not  get  into  the 
court-room,  and  asking  if  I  thought  it  was  fair 
to  open  the  galleries  for  an  audience  that  had 
been  excluded  when  her  husband  spoke.  I 
recognized  the  justness  of  her  complaint,  and, 
calling  Mr.  Black  to  the  bench,  showed  him 
the  note  of  his  wife,  and  offered  to  clear  the 
galleries  and  to  shut  them  up  again,  if  he  pre- 
ferred that  it  should  be  done.  He  thought  it 
not  worth  while,  but  the  event  showed  how 
unwise  it  was  to  open  them.  During  his  speech 
Mr.  Grinnell  made  some  impassioned  excla- 
mation (I  do  not  recall  the  words)  to  the  ef- 
fect that  nobody  feared  anarchists,  at  which  a 


ENGRAVED    BY 


JULIUS     S.    GRINNELL. 

Storm  of  applause  broke  out  in  the  east  gal- 
lery. A  futile  attempt  was  made  to  discover 
who  began  it,  and  after  some  delay  Mr.  Grin- 
nell proceeded  without  further  interruption. 
The  other  exception,  earlier,  was  in  this  wise. 
Doing  what  Lord  Coleridge  has  since  been  se- 
verely criticized  by  the  English  papers  for  do- 
ing in  the  famous  Baccarat  trial,  I  permitted 
the  bench  to  be  filled  with  spectators,  mostly 
ladies.  My  own  wife  was  usually  there.  It 
was  the  best  place  for  hearing  the  speeches  to 
the  jury,  who  sat  in  a  double  row  immediately 
below  the  bench.  I  use  the  word  "  bench  " 
technically  for  the  space  occupied  by  a  large 
desk  with  many  chairs  behind  it.  When  Mr. 
Foster  addressed  the  jury  for  the  defense,  his 
wife  was  there.  The  lady  forgot  herself,  in  her 
admiration  for  the  really  splendid  effort  her  hus- 
band was  making,  and  very  slightly,  by  a  little 
touch  of  her  palms,  showed  her  pardonable 
pride  in  her  husband ;  a  quick  gesture  and  a 
warning  look  from  me  recalled  her  to  the  ne- 
cessities of  the  place. 

But  I  must  go  back  to  the  morning  of  that 
Friday  with  which  I  began. 

The  evidence  closed  on  Tuesday,  the  tenth 
day  of  August.  The  argument  to  the  jury  be- 
gan the  next  morning,  and  continued  until 


AlansonH  Keed 


ENGRAVED    BY  T.  A.   BUTLER. 


THE   JURY. 


ROM   PHOTOGRAPHS    BELONGING  TO    INSPECTOR 


THE    CHICAGO  ANARCHISTS   OF  1886. 


507 


Thursday  of  the  following  week,  the  jury  be- 
ing addressed  by  Messrs.  Grinnell,  Walker,  and 
Ingham  for  the  State,  and  Messrs.  Black,  Fos- 
ter, and  Zeisler  for  the  defense.  Immediately 
after  the  midday  recess  of  the  court  on  Thurs- 
day, the  charge  of  the  court  to  the  jurors  (or,  as 
called  in  Illinois,  the  "  instructions  ")  was  read, 
and  about  four  o'clock  the  jurors  retired  to  the 
room  in  the  court-house  set  apart  for  their  de- 
liberations. It  was  generally  known  that  they 
would  not  be  allowed  to  leave  that  room  until 
they  had  agreed  upon  a  verdict,  or  should,  for 
some  cause  which  would  make  a  verdict  im- 
possible, be  discharged  by  the  court. 

When,  therefore,  the  morning  papers  of  Fri- 
day announced  that  the  jury  had  returned  to 
the  hotel  at  half-past  seven  o'clock  of  the  even- 
ing before,  the  reading  public  jumped  to  the 
conclusion  that  a  verdict  had  l)een  agreed  upon, 
and  thousands  flocked  towartl  the  court-house. 
But  they  coukl  only  see  the  jury  pass.  Very 
few  persons,  other  than  representatives  of  the 
press,  and  the  relatives  or  especial  friends  of 
the  defendants,  were  admitted  to  the  court- 
room, or  even  into  the  court-house,  by  the  ofti- 
cers  on  guard.  Mingled  with  these  relatives  and 
friends  were  numerous  policemen,  who  watched 
their  every  motion.  This  was  probably  an  un- 
necessary precaution,  but  everybody  felt  that 
there  was  a  possibility  of  some  desperate  deed 
being  attempted.  The  court  convened  at  the 
usual  hour,  ten  o'clock.  The  defendants  filled 
the  chairs  which  they  had  occupied  for  nearly 
nine  weeks.  The  jurors,  led  and  followed  as 
ever  by  bailiffs,  filed  into  the  court-room,  and 
each  took  his  accustomed  seat.  The  roll  was 
called,  and  each  juror  answered  to  his  name. 
In  Illinois  the  measure  of  punishment  on  a 
verdict  of  guilty  of  murder,  whether  it  shall  be 
death,  or  imprisonment  in  the  penitentiary  for 
life,  or  some  term  not  less  than  fourteen  years, 
is  fixed  by  the  jury.  The  awe  upon  each  juror's 
face,  the  almost  colorless  solemnity,  unlike  the 
gravity  betokening  wisdom  in  which  judicial 
dignity  masks  itself,  had  already  told  to  each 
observer  that  the  verdict  was  guilty.  But  what 
was  the  penalty  ?  The  State's  Attorney  had  said, 
in  closing  his  speech  to  the  jury,  that  he  did  not 
think  that  Neebe  ought  to  die.  It  could  hardly 
be  expected  that  the  jury  would  award  a  heavier 
punishment  than  the  representative  of  the  State 
thought  adequate.  But  if  the  jury  were  le- 
nient to  Neebe,  would  they  be  severe  to  the 
others  ?  I  asked  the  jury  if  they  had  agreed 
upon  a  verdict.  Their  foreman,  Mr.  Osborne, 
replied,  "  We  have,"  and  handed  to  the  clerk 
two  papers,  from  which  he  read: 

"  We,  the  jury,  find  the  defendants  August 
Spies,  Michael  Schwab,  Samuel  Fielden,  Al- 
bert R.  Parsons,  Adolph  Fischer,  George  En- 
gel,   and   Louis   Lingg   guilty  of  murder  in 


manner  and  form  as  charged  in  the  indictment, 
and  fix  the  penalty  at  death.  We  find  the  de- 
fendant Oscar  W.  Neebe  guilty  of  murder  in 
manner  and  form  as  charged  in  the  intlictment, 
and  fix  the  penalty  at  imprisonment  in  the 
penitentiary  for  fifteen  years." 

As  the  sound  of  the  voice  of  the  clerk  died 
away  in  the  court-room,  a  tall  and  graceful 
woman  of  a  pure  pink-and-white  complexion, 
the  young  wife  of  Schwab  and  sister  of  Rudolph 
Schnaubelt  (of  whom  more  will  be  said  here- 
after), fell  screaming  into  the  arms  of  the  women 
around  her. 

The  counsel  for  the  defendants  demanded 
that  the  jury  be  polled.  The  clerk  called  them 
separately  by  name;  as  called,  each  stood  up, 
and  to  the  question,  "Was  this,  and  is  this 
now,  your  verdict?"  each  replie(l  in  tlie  affir- 
mative. 

That  verdict  was  received  by  the  friends  of 
social  order,  wherever  lightning  could  carry  it, 
with  a  roar  of  almost  universal  approval.  And 
yet  there  is  ground  for  the  charge  made  by 
those  who  deny  that  justice  was  done  to  Spies 
and  his  companions, —  and  who  claim  them  as 
martyrs  for  free  speech, —  that  that  approval 
was  l)ased  upon  no  intelligent  understanding 
of  the  conduct  of  the  convicted  anarchists, —  no 
definite  knowledge  of  what  acts,  if  any,  they 
had  done  worthy  of  death, — but  was  the  out- 
come of  fear  that  anarchy  and  anarchists 
threatened  the  foundations  of  society;  and  that 
from  this  fear  sprung  approval  of  anything 
which  tended  to  the  extirpation  of  anarchists. 

The  immense  volume  of  the  evidence;  the 
demands  which  business  and  industry  made 
upon  the  time  of  those  who  might  have  fol- 
lowed it  through  the  papers  that  attempted 
to  report  the  trial;  the  omission  from  even 
those  reports  of  the  most  conclusive  kind  of 
evidence  as  to  the  plans  and  purposes  of  the 
anarchists,  being  their  own  publications,  vo- 
luminous and  reiterated;  the  impossibility  of 
spreading  the  evidence  at  large  before  the 
world  —  all  make  that  approval  of  the  convic- 
tion of  the  anarchists  of  the  specific  crime  of 
the  murder  of  Mathias  J.  Degan  of  no  more 
value  as  a  sanction  of  the  verdict  than  is  the 
acquiescence  of  the  public  in  any  verdict  of 
guilty  a  sanction  of  it.  The  names  of  the  in- 
dicted were  not  known  to  the  great  mass;  they 
might  remember  Spies  or  Parsons,  but  ver)- 
few  persons  could  go  farther  in  the  roll.  Poor 
Degan  nobody  thought  of.  At  large  it  was 
only  known  that  there  had  been  a  terrible 
slaughter  at  night,  in  Chicago,  by  a  bomb 
thrown  into  the  ranks  of  policemen  on  duty 
under  command,  and  that  the  throwing  of  that 
bomb  was  the  result,  or  believed  to  be  the  re- 
sult, of  the  ravings  of  the  anarchists.  For  this 
the  friends  of  order  everywhere  cried  out  for 


r" 


THE    LAST    DAY    OF    THE    TRIAL.     (THE   JURY    GOING    TO    THE    GOURT-HOUSE.) 


THE    CHICAGO  ANARCHISTS   OF  1886. 


809 


vengeance, — punishment  for  the  past  as  secur- 
ity for  the  future. 

Mixed  with  all  of  the  approval  of  my  own 
part  in  the  conviction  of  the  anarchists  that 
has  come  to  my  eyes  and  ears,  the  amount  of 
which  is  beyond  my  summing  up,  there  has 
been  an  undertone,  like  a  minor  strain  in  music, 
that  the  anarchists  deserved  their  fate;  that 
society  has  the  right  to  enforce  the  lirst  law  of 
nature  —  self-preservation ;  and  therefore  if  I 
had  a  little  strained  the  law,  or  administered 
it  with  great  rigor  against  them,  I  was  to  be 
commended  for  my  courage  in  so  doing.  I 
protest  against  any  such  commendation,  and 
deny  utterly  that  I  have  done  anything  that 
should  subject  me  to  it.  No  man,  no  body  of 
men,  has  or  have  any  right  to  inflict  punish- 
ment only  because  it  is  deserved.  My  neigh- 
bor maltreats  his  wife;  I  may  not  horsewhip 
him  for  that,  though  public  opinion  might  ap- 
prove the  act  if  done  by  her  father  or  brother.  A 
man  flees  to  Ilhnois  to  escape  the  consequences 
of  crime  committed  elsewhere;  unless  extra- 
dited under  some  law,  he  has  the  right  to  dwell 
in  Illinois  in  peace,  if  he  break  no  law  there. 

1  do  agree  that  society  has  the  right  to  pre- 
serve itself — the  right  of  self-defense.  I  will 
not  deny,  I  will  readily  admit,  that  there  may 
be  exigencies  which  will  justify  the  exercise  of 
that  right  by  communities,  by  neighborhoods, 
even  by  individuals,  in  cases  and  under  cir- 
cumstances for  which  the  law  has  made  no 
provision.  Suppose  a  man  about  to  bring  into 
a  village  infected  clothing  for  sale,  the  mere 
unpacking  of  which  may  spread  disease.  If 
he  breaks  no  law  in  so  doing,  no  court  has  the 
right  to  sit  in  judgment  upon  him;  but  that 
the  villagers  might  drive  him  away  with  such 
force  as  might  be  necessary,  and  stand  justified 
morally,  if  not  legally,  hardly  any  one  will  deny. 
But  no  judicial  act  can  be  justified  unless  per- 
formed in  pursuance  of  some  preexisting  law. 
The  justification  of  the  State,  or  of  the  people 
of  the  State,  for  such  laws  as  define,  and  pre- 
scribe the  punishment  of,  crime,  is  self-defense ; 
to  preserve  order  in  the  State.  The  justification 
of  the  court,  the  jury,  and  the  sheriff"  who  ad- 
minister and  execute  the  law,  is  that  they  are 
obeying  the  law.  If,  therefore,  I  have  strained 
the  law, —  gone  beyond  its  intent  and  mean- 
ing,—  I  am  not  to  be  commended,  but  blamed 
for  so  doing.  The  end,  however  desirable  its 
attainment,  excuses  no  irregular  means  in  the 
administration  of  justice. 

The  motive,  then,  or  at  least  the  principal 
motive,  of  this  paper  is  to  demonstrate  to  my 
fluni  profession,  and  to  inake  plain  to  all  fair- 
minded,  intelligent  people,  that  the  verdict  of  the 
jury  in  the  case  of  the  anarchists  was  right; 
that  the  anarchists  were  guilty  of  murder;  that 
they  were  not  the  victims  of  prejudice,  nor  mar- 
VoL.  XLV.— 106. 


tyrs  for  free  speech,  but  iu  morals,  as  well  as 
in  law,  were  guilty  of  murder. 

I  concede  that  there  was  prejudice  against 
them;  under  the  circumstances  that  was  in- 
evitable. If  any  class  of  evil-doers,  by  news- 
papers, pamphlets,  speeches,  processions,  flags 
and  banners,  and  whatever  other  means  ingenu- 
ity can  suggest,  may  make  public  and  inform 
everybody  what  they  intend  to  do,  and  then, 
when  they  have  done  it,  screen  themselves  from 
punishment  on  the  plea  that  there  is  prejudice 
against  them,  then  the  only  hindrance  to  their 
success — leaving  out  of  view  a  possible  prose- 
cution for  conspiracy  before  the  criminal  act 
is  done  —  would  be  the  danger  to  themselves 
while  engaged  in  the  commission  of  the  crime. 
Then  anarchists  might  kill  and  go  free.  But 
that  injustice  was  done  to  them,  because  of  that 
prejudice,  is  not  true,  I  shall  affect  no  judicial 
indifference,  but  shall  write  as  a  citizen  of  the 
State  of  Illinois,  repelling  the  imputation  that 
injustice  was  done  in  the  administration  and 
execution  of  her  laws. 

Another  motive  of  this  paper  is  to  show  to  the 
laborijig people,  of  whom  the  anarchists  claijned 
to  be  the  especial  friends,  that  that  claim  was  a 
sham  and pretejise,  adopted  only  as  a  means  to 
bring  manual  laborers  i?ito  their  otun  ranks ; 
and  that  the  counsel  and  advice  of  the  anar- 
chists, iffolloivedby  the  working-men,  tuould  ex- 
pose them  to  the  danger  of  becoming,  in  law, 
murderers.  I  shall  show  that  the  real  passions 
at  the  bottom  of  the  hearts  of  the  anarchists 
were  envy  and  hatred  of  all  people  whose  con- 
dition in  life  was  better  than  their  own,  who 
were  more  prosperous  than  themselves. 

There  seems  to  be  prevailing,  hardly  a  theory, 
but  a  vague,  unexpressed  feeling  or  sentiment 
which  no  demagogue  dares  run  counter  to,  that 
in  all  disputes  between  employers  and  employ- 
ees,regardless  of  the  "why  and  wherefore," —  es- 
pecially if  the  latter  class  are  very  numerous, — 
they,  if  not  justifiable,  are  excusable  in  taking 
control  of  the  property  of  the  employers,  so  far 
at  least  as  may  be  necessary  to  prevent  the  aid 
of  other  employees  in  making  such  property 
of  use  or  profit;  that  to  that  end  force  may  be 
used,  and  that  if,  in  the  exercise  of  force  (if  it 
be  only  such  as  the  moment  may  show  to  be 
necessary  to  make  the  prevention  effectual), 
the  employees  kill  anybody, —  much  more  if 
the  slain  had  been  called  in  by  the  employers  to 
keep  the  control  of  their  property  from  the  em- 
ployees, and  to  resist  their  anticipated  attacks, — 
such  killing  is,  on  the  whole,  rather  a  useful 
lesson  to  somebody,  and  should  be  a  warning 
for  the  future.  It  was  this  feeling  or  sentiment 
which  the  anarchists  formulated  into  a  princi- 
ple, and  urged  all  wage- workers  to  adopt  and  en- 
force in  practice,  calculating,  as  they  declared 
(as  will  be  shown  later),  that  the  disturbances  to 


8io 


THE    CHICAGO   ANARCHISTS   OF  1886. 


follow  tended  to  the  destruction  of  all  govern- 
ment, the  dissolution  of  all  bonds  by  which 
society  is  held  together,  and  the  introduction 
of  that  condition,  or  chaos  and  absence  of  all 
condition,  which  they  called  anarchy. 

It  may  be  that  showing  this  sham  and  pre- 
tense of  the  anarchists  will  have  no  practical 
effect.  I  have  before,  as  will  be  seen  toward 
the  close  of  this  paper,  expressed  the  faintness 
of  my  hope  of  producing  any  effect  by  any 
warning  that  I  could  utter;  I  have  as  little  hope 
now  of  any  that  I  can  write. 

Brought  up  myself  to  manual  labor,  it  never 
ceases  to  seem  strange  to  me  that  there  are  not 
virtue  and  strength  enough  vested  anywhere 
to  protect  from  mob  violence  and  assault  a 
humble,  peaceable  citizen,  obedient  to  all  law 
and  blameless  in  his  life,  in  his  efforts  to  earn 
for  himself  and  those  dependent  upon  him  a 
hvehhood  by  honest  industry;  or  if  he  be 
wronged  through  a  loophole  in  that  protec- 
tion, to  avenge  his  wrongs.  I  spent  the  sum- 
mer of  1840  at  a  carpenter's  bench  by  day  and 
singing  campaign  songs  by  night,  though  not 
yet  a  voter,  and  I  think  now  that  I  would  as 
readily  have  fought  for  the  right  to  do  the 
one  as  the  other.  Hopeless  as  it  may  be  to 
write  the  warning,  yet  it  should  be  made  so 
clear  that  nobody  could  be  ignorant  that  the 
law  is,  that  if  men  enter  into  a  combination 
which  contemplates,  for  the  success  of  its  pur- 
pose, the  exercise  of  unlawful  force  against 
the  property  or  the  persons  of  other  men,  and 
killing  is  done  by  any  of  the  men  in  the  combi- 
nation, in  pursuance  of  the  plan  upon  which, 
and  in  effecting  the  purpose  for  which,  the 
combination  was  formed,  then  murder  by  the 
hand  of  one  is  murder  by  all.  This  is  the  law, 
though  the  combination  was  entered  into  not 
with  the  intention  of  killing  anybody,  but  only 
to  assault  and  beat,  or  mob,  or  destroy  prop- 
erty. 

In  discussing  the  question  of  the  guilt  of  the 
convicted  anarchists,  I  shall  take  the  most 
pains  as  to  Spies  and  Parsons.  They  were  the 
two  most  noted.  Their  fate  has  been  most 
loudly  bewailed.  If  any  are  to  be  canonized, 
they  are  the  "slaughtered  saints  whose  bones" 
are  the  bones  of  martyrs.  To  go  through  the 
list  of  the  convicted  anarchists,  and  to  show 
in  detail  how  each  was  proved  guilty,  would 
require  more  space  than  could  be  given  to  a 
magazine  article.  ^ 

I  can  only  say,  in  short,  that  they  were 
all  members  of  a  revolutionary  organization 
called  the  "  International,"  the  object  of  which 
was  to  introduce  anarchy.  To  this  end  they 
proposed  to  subdue  by  ten'or,  or  to  exterminate 

1  The  case  as  to  the  whole  eight  is  reported  in  the 
I22d  Illinois  Reports,  i,  and  12  Northeastern  Reports, 
865. 


by  violent  deaths,  all  who  favored  law  and 
order. 

For  more  than  a  year — how  much  more  does 
not  appear  in  the  evidence  presented  on  the 
trial  —  before  a  general  strike  for  eight  hours 
as  a  day's  work  was  in  contemplation,  they 
had  endeavored  to  bring  the  class  they  called 
"  proletariat  "  into  their  ranks,  and  had  urged 
that  class  to  arm  themselves,  especially  with 
dynamite  bombs. 

In  the  fall  of  1885  it  became  probable  that 
such  a  strike  could  be  brought  about  on  the 
first  day  of  the  following  May. 

They  encouraged  it  to  the  utmost  of  their 
abihties ;  not  for  the  purpose,  as  they  were 
frank  enough  to  say,  of  obtaining  for  laborers 
fewer  hours  of  toil,  but  with  the  hope  that  in 
the  disorder  to  follow  all  working  for  wages 
would  be  stopped,  and  that  anarchy  would  be 
the  next  step.  Armed  strikers  beating  workers 
would  bring  the  police  and  mihtia,  and  if  they 
could  be  overcome  in  battles,  no  force  being  left 
to  give  vigor  to  the  law,  anarchy  must  follow. 

Had  the  anarchists  not  miscalculated  in 
comparing  their  utmost  possible  strength  with 
the  actual  strength  of  society,  they  might  rea- 
sonably have  anticipated  a  temporary  success. 

The  first  day  of  May  came,  and  great  ex- 
citement prevailed.  Many  struck.  New  men 
were  to  some  extent  taken  on  in  their  places. 
On  the  third  day  of  May  a  very  serious  riot,  in 
which  Spies,  by  his  own  account,  participated, 
took  place  at  the  McCormick  Harvesting  Ma- 
chine Works,  where  the  police  protected  men 
at  work.  Some  of  the  rioters  were  hurt,  but 
probably  none  killed. 

The  anarchists  called  a  meeting  to  denounce 
the  police.  It  was  held  near  a  poUce  station 
at  which  they  knew  a  large  force  was  concen- 
trated. The  situation  was  critical.  The  scent 
of  danger  was  in  the  air.  They  so  conducted 
the  meeting  as  to  make  it  the  duty  of  the  po- 
hce  to  disperse  it.  The  language  of  the  speak- 
ers was  of  a  very  violent  character,  and  was 
loudly  applauded. 

The  police  marched  to  the  meeting,  halted, 
and  a  captain  commanded  the  people  to  dis- 
perse. It  was  then  half-past  ten  o'clock  at  night. 
A  dynamite  bomb  was  thrown  into  the  ranks  of 
the  policemen,  killing  Began,  mortally  wound- 
ing six  others,  and  wounding  threescore  more 
not  mortally. 

The  indictment  was  for  the  murder  of  Be- 
gan, the  first  victim.  For  this  murder  law  and 
reason  charge  the  whole  body  of  conspiring 
members  of  the  International,  but  want  of 
space,  and  theii  prominence,  limit  me  mainly 
to  Spies  and  Parsons. 

Before  going  into  the  evidence  of  the  conduct 
of  the  anarchists,  I  must  quote  a  little  law.  I 
cannot  rely  jpon  the  verdict  of  the  jury,  or  the 


pots{0K«i3  Justifiable,  because  itistlieoalx  meani>  but  lUcjr  tliomaolTOS 
Lave  set  the  !inin«u.>ri:il  t-xniupUv 

By  force  our  a"«"^^tor>  litn-rritM  Htpmsolvf*  from  ^loUtical  iniprx'ssinti, 
by  furct  their  chilJien  »iU  lun.-  to  libcmlc  tlii'mseUes  fiimi  i^conoinlc 
bondage  '"U  is,  tlierefore,  jour  right,  il  is  your  ihily  "  savs  .Iclld.sciu— "to 
arm'" 

tVbatwe  would  achieve  is,  thereXore,  plaiij\  and  simply 

>liis<.-D«9tniction  of  the  existiiiR class  rule,  by  all  means,  i.  e.  byener- 
fttlc,  r<'l<'nlless,  revoluti.inary  and  international  action. 

Second  —  Est.iblishmenl  of  a  free  society  baaed  upon  co-operative  organ- 
ization ol  I'H^ductiOli. 

Ti'ird  — Kree  c\clianse  of  equi\;i!pnt  prodncts  bv  and  bctwcin  the  pro- 
■  '  I  proI'it-nioni;tM 


-Organization  of  edn 


.  scientilic  and  equal 


TO  THE 


Workinpen  of  America. 


1  (independent)  communes  and  associations. Testing  on  a  federal 

llH*ver  agrees  nitli  this  ideal  let  hiin  gra'-p  our  outstretched  brother 

rolptariaiis  of  all  cnnntries,  uifite ' 

'elloiv-wnrkinen,  all  we  need  for  the  achievement  of  thre  great  end  js 

ANI/..\TION  and  I'MTV  I 

'liiie  (vists  now  no  great  obstacle  to  that  unity     The  wort  of  peace- 

duiMtioii  and  reviilnUonary  conspiracy  well  can  and  ought  to  run  in 

lei  linis 

111'  il»\  luis  come  for  solidarity     Join  our  ranks!     Let  the  drum  beat 

iillv  li.e  11.11  of  battle.     -Workmen  of  all  countries  unite!    Vou  have 

'iiiiihlo,  i.|.(.u's.«ir3  of  the  world '     Xot  far  beyond  your  purblind  sight 
ilavv  lis  the  M  lulrl  and  sable  lights  of  the  Judo.mknt  Day  ! 

"  International 


Issued  by  the  I'ittabuizh   Congn 
~-'~-'   *.S90Ciatr™*' 

1  of  Infoin 


International  Working  Peoples'  Association, 

107    Fifth   Avenue,  CHICAGO,    ILLINOIS, 


wm'  Stib>.oiibe  for  "THE  ALARM,"  ai?erato- 
tionary  Socialistic  J^etvxpaper.  devoted  to  the  propa- 
ganda of  ANARCHY.  Published  weekly  at  No.  107 
Fifth  Ave.,  Chicago,  Ills.     S^ample  cony  free. 


FELLOW-WORKMEN:— The    DECLjLaAnoN    of 
Independence  says: 

Uut  when  along  train  of  ataises  and  usurpations, 
pui-suing  invariably  the  same  object,  evinces  a  design  to  reduce  the  in, 
(the  people)  under  absolute  Despotism,  it  is  ()uir  nj*t,  it  is  their  durj 
to  throw  oft  such  government  and  pro>ide  new  guards  {or  tbeir  future 
security  " 

Tliis  thought  of  Thomas  Jefferson  was  the  Justification  for  armwi  re- 
sistance by  our  forefathers,  which  gave  birth  to  our  Republic,  and  do  not 
the  necessities  of  our  present  time  compel  us  to  re-assert  their  ded.iration? 

Jellow- Workmen,  we  aakyou.  to  give,  us  your  attention  for  a  few  nio- 
"^UHLv^.® -^^H.  5'^",  tp^^nd'-lly  reaa  the  foHowin-  manifesto  issued  in 
-your  behalf;  in  the  behalf  of  your  wives  .and  cliildrcn  in  beliaU  of  humanity 
and  progress  ' 

.i-.r'l'  P'f  ™t  wciety  is  founded  on  the  expolmtlon  of  the.urorerTyless 
class  by  the  propertied.  This  expoliation  5s  such  ikit  tl  e  i-  opcVticI 
(capitalists)  buy  the  worlung force  body  and  soulof  the  properlyle.s  loMbe 
price  of  the  mere  cost  of  existence  («age.^  luid  take  lov  thenisjves  i  e 
steal  the  amnnnt  of  newvalues  (products)  which  exceeds  tlie  price  wiieivbv 
wa^eOabSrTr  ^eP-^e"'  ^^^  necessities  instead  of  the  ea!^of"be 

sail'^{|;;;;fr^i;^,^^,-?^;!^i,^;fj]-;[,r-nr^ 

on  a  pand  .scale  enforces  technical  development  witl  inime^«  iSpMi  v  ^ 
that  By  the  application  of  an  always  decreA.siurnumbeTo?  lu^l^^?o,l"■,^. 

srofVo'^ir-'^f^j^c^'r,^ '''""""' »f  >^''^»"'»  ^'"^^^^^^^ 
inte,.s;irinA^m,;^;::4s^?^Si^if^^?'^--nM><^^ 


PART    OF    AN     ANARCHIST     HANDBILL    ISSUED     FROM     "THE     ALARM 


judgment  of  the  Supreme  Court;  for  the  tribunal 
which  I  am  addressing  is  to  be  convinced  by 
facts  and  reason,  not  borne  down  by  author- 
ity. But  I  am  entitled  to  rely  upon  the  stat- 
utes of  the  State,  and  upon  earlier  decisions 
of  the  Supreme  Court,  for  they  constituted 
the  preexisting  law  of  the  State,  In  charging 
members  of  a  conspiracy  Avith  a  crime  com- 
mitted in  furtherance  of  the  object  and  in  carry- 
ing out  the  design  of  the  conspiracy,  and  for 
which  all  the  members  are  therefore  respon- 
sible, "  it  is  not  necessary  to  prove  that  the 
defendants  came  together  and  actually  agreed 
in  terms  to  have  that  design,  and  to  pursue  it 
by  common  means.  If  it  be  proved  that  the 
defendants  pursued  by  their  acts  the  same  ob- 
ject, often  by  the  same  means,  one  performing 
one  part  and  another  another  part  of  the  same, 
so  as  to  complete  it  with  a  view  to  the  attain- 
ment of  that  same  object,  the  jury  will  be  jus- 
tified in  the  conclusion  that  they  were  engaged 
in  a  conspiracy  to  effect  that  object,"  and  "by 
the  act  of  conspiring  together,  the  conspirators 
have  jointly  assumed  to  themselves,  as  a  body, 
the  attribute  of  individuality,  so  far  as  regards 
the  prosecution  of  the  common  design ;  thus 
rendering  whatever  is  done  or  said  by  any  one 
in  furtherance  of  that  design  a  part  of  the  res 
gestce,  and  therefore  the  act  of  all"  (3d  Green- 
leaf,  Evidence,  Sees.  93, 94) ;  and  "  when,  there- 
fore, persons  combine  to  do  an  unlawful  thing, 
if  the  act  of  one,  proceeding  according  to  the 
common  plan,  terminates  in  a  criminal  result. 


though  not  the  particular  result  meant,  all  are 
liable"  (i  Bishop,  Criminal  Law,  Sec.  636). 

In  the  case  of  Brennan  vs.  The  People  (15 
Illinois  Reports,  5 1 1 ),  th  e  Supreme  Court  of  Illi- 
nois, in  deciding  the  case,  said :  "There  is  a  fatal 
objection  to  the  eighteenth,  twenty-first,  and 
twenty-second  instructions  asked  by  the  pris- 
oners. These  instructions  required  the  jury  to 
acquit  the  prisoners,  unless  they  actually  par- 
ticipated in  the  killing  of  Story,  or  unless  the 
killing  happened  in  pursuance  of  a  common 
design  on  the  part  of  the  prisoners  to  take  his 
life.  Such  is  not  the  law.  The  prisoners  may 
be  guilty  of  murder,  although  they  neither  took 
part  in  the  killing,  nor  assented  to  any  arrange- 
ment having  for  its  object  the  death  of  Story. 
It  is  sutKicient  that  they  combined  with  those 
committing  the  deed  to  do  an  unlawful  act, 
such  as  to  beat  or  rob  Story;  and  that  he  was 
killed  in  the  attempt  to  execute  the  common 
purpose.  If  several  persons  conspire  to  do  an 
unlawful  act,  and  death  happens  in  the  prose- 
cution of  the  common  object,  all  are  alike 
guilty  of  the  homicide.  The  act  of  one  of  them, 
done  in  furtherance  of  the  original  design,  is, 
in  consideration  of  law,  the  act  of  all,  and  he 
Avho  advises  or  encourages  another  to  do  an 
illegal  act  is  responsible  for  all  the  natural  and 
probable  consequences  that  may  arise  from  its 
perpetration," 

These  quotations  show  what  is  the  common 
law  upon  the  subject  to  which  they  relate;  and 
what  Spies  and  Parsons  published  in  newspa- 


8l2 


THE    CHICAGO  ANARCHISTS   OF  1886. 


pers  and  shouted  in  speeches  is  enough  for 
their  condemnation  and  for  the  condemnation 
of  all  their  co-conspirators,  being  published  and 
spoken  for  the  purpose  of  carrying  out  the  de- 
sign of  the  conspiracy,  and  followed  by  the 
murder  instigated  by  such  publications  and 
speeches.  They  incited,  advised,  encouraged, 
the  throwing  of  the  bomb  that  killed  the  police- 
men, not  by  addressing  the  bomb-thrower  spe- 
cially, and  telling  him  to  throw  a  bomb  at  that 
or  any  specified  time  or  occasion,  but  by  gen- 
eral addresses  to  readers  and  hearers;  by  every 
argument  which  they  could  frame;  by  every  ap- 
peal to  passion  which  they  could  make;  advis- 
ing, encouraging,  urging,  and  instructing  how 
to  perform  acts  within  which  the  act  of  throw- 
ing the  bomb  was  embraced. 

The  common  law,  said  Lord  Coke,  *'  is  the 
perfection  of  reason."  In  less  stilted  phrase, 
and,  as  I  think,  in  words  more  significant  to 
plain  people,  I  have  said,  "  and  the  law  is  com- 
mon sense." 

That  all  of  the  defendants  belonged  to 
"  groups  "  of  the  International;  that  the  design 
and  purpose  of  the  organization  of  the  Ifiter- 
national  was  to  bring  about  a  destruction  of 
the  existing  order  of  society  by  rebelUon  and 
revolution;  that  the  newspapers  edited  by  Spies 
and  Parsons  were  the  organs  of  the  Interna- 
tional—  all  this  was  conclusively  proved  on 
the  trial,  and  no  denial  attempted.  And  if  by 
the  law  of  the  State  of  Illinois,  preexisting  and 
known,  the  anarchists  residing  in  Illinois  were 
guilty  of  murder  by  engaging  in  a  conspiracy 
the  natural  and  probable  result  of  which  could 
be  anticipated,  and  that  result  murder,  it  is 
childish  whimpering  for  their  adherents  to  com- 
plain that  the  law  defied  by  the  anarchists  was 
upon  their  defeat  enforced  against  them.  No  ar- 
gument can  convince  those  who  are  determined 
not  to  be  convinced,  and  words  are  thrown 
away  upon  such  as,  though  unable  to  deny 
that  thus  runs  the  law,  yet  let  their  sympathy 
either  for  doctrines  approaching  those  preached 
by  the  anarchists,  or  for  the  unhappy  fate  of 
the  anarchists,  control  their  judgments.  The 
sincerity  of  the  anarchists  in  their  belief  of  the 
benefits  to  accrue  from  anarchy  (if  they  were 
sincere)  is  not  to  be  considered  when  the  ques- 
tion is  whether  they  were  murderers.  The  East 
Indian  thugs  were  religious  and  sincere. 

It  will  come  within  my  task  to  show  that 
if  the  anarchists  could  have  carried  out  their 
plans,  the  horrors  of  the  French  revolution  in 
the  last  century  were  the  pattern  which  they 
proposed,  not  to  copy,  but  to  exceed,  in  atro- 
city. People  who  are  not  anarchists,  and  yet 
who  sentimentally  pity  and  sigh  over  their 
fate,,  do  not  appreciate  their  plans  and  pur- 
poses; such  people  either  have  not  read  the 
anarchists'  addresses,  or  else  the  wildness  and 


idiotic  absurdity  of  their  plans  —  the  utter  non- 
sense of  supposing  that  a  very  small  percen- 
tage of  the  total  population  of  the  United 
States,  and  they  mostly  foreigners  to  whom 
the  English  language  was  a  strange  tongue, 
could  coerce  or  terrorize  the  great  nation  — 
present  those  addresses  in  such  a  ridiculous 
light  that  their  malignity  is  lost  sight  of  by 
the  reader. 

In  all  the  United  States  that  were  colo- 
nized by  the  English,  or  from  the  original  thir- 
teen States,  the  common  law  of  England  is  at 
the  foundation  of  all  law.  In  Illinois  it  has 
long  been  a  part  of  the  statutes  "  that  the  com- 
mon law  of  England,  so  far  as  the  same  is 
applicable  and  of  a  general  nature,  .  .  .  shall 
be  the  rule  of  decision,  and  shall  be  considered 
as  of  full  force  until  repealed  by  legislative  au- 
thority "  (Chap.  28,  Revised  Statutes).  "  All 
trials  for  criminal  offenses  shall  be  conducted 
according  to  the  course  of  the  common  law, 
except  when  this  act  points  out  a  difterent  mode, 
and  the  rules  of  evidence  of  the  common  law 
shall  also  be  binding  upon  all  courts  and  juries 
in  criminal  cases  except  as  otherwise  provided 
by  law"  (Sec.  428,  Chap.  38).  "  Murder  is  the 
unlawful  killing  of  a  human  being,  in  the  peace 
of  the  people,  with  malice  aforethought,  express 
or  implied  "  (Sec.  140,  Chap.  38).  "  An  acces- 
sory is  he  who  stands  by,  and  aids,  abets,  assists, 
or  who,  not  being  present,  aiding,  abetting  or 
assisting,  hath  advised,  encouraged,  aided  or 
abetted  the  perpetration  of  the  crime.  He  who 
thus  aids,  abets,  assists,  advises  or  encourages, 
shall  be  considered  as  principal,  and  punished 
accordingly"  (Sec.  274,  Chap.  38). 

Construing  this  last  section,  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  State  held,  forty  years  before  the 
anarchists'  trial,  that  "the  acts  of  the  principal 
are  made  the  acts  of  the  accessory,  he  thereby 
becomes  the  principal,  and  may  be  charged  as 
having  done  the  act  himself"  (Baxter's  case,  3 
Oilman's  Reports,  368).  In  Brennan's  case,  al- 
ready cited,  in  1854  that  court  held  that  "  the 
advice  or  encouragement  that  may  make  one 
an  accessory  to  crime  need  not  be  by  words, 
but  by  any  word  or  act,  sign  or  motion,  done 
or  made  for  the  purpose  of  encouraging  the 
commission  of  a  crime." 

I  have  been  very  slow  in  reaching  the  facts. 
In  order  that  the  pertinency  of  what  Spies  and 
Parsons  published  and  said  may  be  apparent,- 
a  brief  description  of  the  situation  in  Chicago 
is  necessary.  For  some  time  —  how  long  is  un- 
certain— there  had  been  in  various  cities  in  the 
United  States  "groups,"  as  they  were  called, 
of  the  "  International  Association  of  Working- 
men,"  or  "  International  Arbeiter  Association," 
generally  called  the  "International"  or,  for  brev- 
ity, "LA.  A."  For  some  time  —  months,  if  not 
years — before  May  i,  1886,  there  had  been 


THE    CHICAGO   ANARCHISTS   OF  1886. 


ii3 


eight  of  these  groups  in  Chicago.  Scliwab, 
Neebe,  and  Lingg  belonged  to  one  of  these 
groups,  Engel  and  Fischer  to  another,  and 
Spies,  Parsons,  and  Fielden  to  another.  At  one 
time  Spies  had  belonged  to  the  same  group  of 
which  Engel  and  Fischer  were  members.  To 
some  of  these  groups  were  attached  "armed 
sections." 

The  International  had  in  Chicago  two  or- 
gans, the  "  Arbeiter  Zeitung,"  a  newspaper  in 
German,  issuing  every  afternoon  an  edition  of 
about  thirty-six  hundred;  and  "The  Alarm," 
in  English,  issuing  twice  a  month  an  edition  of 
about  two  thousand.  Si)ies  and  Schwab  were 
editors  of  the  "Arbeiter,"  and  Parsons  was  edi- 
tor of"  The  Alarm."  Each  of  these  papers  pub- 
lished "  The  Platform  of  the  International," 
"The  Alarm"  on  the  first  day  of  November, 
1 884,  and  the  "  Arbeiter  "  in  all  its  issues  during 
February,  March^  and  April,  1886.  From  this 
platform  I  make  extracts.  Itwill  be  understood 
that  in  all  quotations  that  I  shall  make  from 
the  "Arbeiter,"  they  are  translations  from  the 
German,  and  I  shall  make  none  from  either 
paper  that  was  not  read  in  evidence  on  the  trial 
in  the  words  here  presented. 

The  following  are  extracts  from  the  platform : 
"  The  Declaration  of  Independence  declares 
when  a  long  train  of  abuses  and  usurpation, 
pursuing  invariably  the  same  object,  evinces  a 
design  to  reduce  them  (the  people)  under  ab- 
solute despotism,  it  is  their  right,  it  is  their 
duty,  to  throw  off  such  government  and  to 
provide  new  guards  for 
their  future  security.  Are 
we  not  too  much  governed, 
and  is  it  not  time  to  prac- 
tice this  thought  of  Jeffer- 
son ?  Is  our  government 
anything  but  a  conspiracy 
of  the  privileged  classes 
against  the  people  ?  Fel- 
low-laborers, read  the  fol- 
lowing declaration,  which 
we  issue  in  your  interest, 
for  humanity  and  progress. 
The  present  order  of  so- 
ciety is  based  upon  the 
spoliation  of  the  non-prop- 
erty by  the  property 
owners,  the  capitalists  buy 
the  labor  of  the  poor  for 
wages,  at  the  mere  cost  of 
living,  taking  all  the  sur- 
plus of  labor.  .  .  .  Thus 
while  the  poor  are  increas- 
ingly deprived  the  oppor- 
tunities of  advancement, 
the  rich  grow  richer 
through  increasing  rob- 
LARGE  GAS-PIPE  BOMB.   bcry.  .  .  .    This  system  is 


SMALL    GAS-PIPE     BOMBS. 


unjust,  insane,  and 
murderous.  There- 
fore those  who  suffer 
under  it,  and  do  not 
wish  to  be  respon- 
sible for  its  continue 
ance,  oughtto  strive 
for  its  destruction 
by  all  means  and 
with  their  utmost 
energy.  ,  .  .  The 
laborers  can  look 
for  aid  from  no  out- 
side source  in  their 
fight  against  the  ex- 
isting system,  but 
must  achieve  de- 
liverance through 
their  own  exertions. 
Hitherto,  no  privi- 
leged class  have  re- 
linquished tyranny, 
nor  will  the  capital- 
ists of  to-day  forego 
their  privilege  and 
authority  without  compulsion.  .  .  .  It  is  there- 
fore self-evident  that  the  fight  of  proletarianism 
against  the  bourgeoisie  must  have  a  violent 
revolutionary  character;  that  wage  conflicts 
cannot  lead  to  the  goal.  .  .  .  Under  all  these 
circumstances,  there  is  only  one  remedy  left — 
force.  Our  ancestors  of  1776  have  taught  us 
that  resistance  to  tyrants  is  justifiable,  and 
have  left  us  an  immortal  example.  By  force, 
they  freed  themselves  from  foreign  oppression, 
and  through  force  their  descendants  must  free 
themselves  from  domestic  oppression.  .  .  . 
Agitation  to  organize,  organizations  for  the 
purpose  of  rebellion,  this  is  the  course  if  the 
workingmen  would  rid  themselves  of  their 
chains." 

Note  the  words,  "  it  is  therefore  self-evi- 
dent that  the  fight  .  .  .  must  have  a  violent 
revolutionary  character;  that  wage  conflicts 
cannot  lead  to  the  goal,"  and  then  look  for 
the  meaning  that  Spies  and  Parsons  intended 
that  their  readers  should  understand  by  them. 

From  the  "Arbeiter,"  March  16,  1885: 
"About  revolutionary  deeds.  ...  In  all 
revolutionary  action  three  different  epochs  of 
time  are  to  be  distinguished :  first,  the  portion 
of  preparation  for  an  action,  then  the  moment 
of  the  action  itself,  and  finally  that  portion  of 
time  which  follows  the  deed.  ...  In  the  first 
place  a  revolutionary  action  should  succeed. 
Then  as  little  as  possible  ought  to  be  sacri- 
ficed,—  that  is,  in  other  words,  the  danger  of 
discovery  ought  to  be  weakened  as  much  as 
possible,  and,  if  it  can  be,  reduced  to  naught. 
.  .  .  Mention  was  made  of  the  danger  of  dis- 
covery. .  .  .  It  is  easily  comprehensible  for 


;i4 


THE    CHICAGO  ANARCHISTS   OF  1886. 


LINGG  S     BOMB.       (CLOSED.) 

everybody,  that  the  danger  of  discovery  is  the 
greater  the  more  numerous  the  mass  of  people 
or  the  group  which  contemplates  a  deed,  and 
vice  versa.  On  the  other  hand,  the  threatening 
danger  aj^proaches  the  closer  the  better  the 
acting  persons  are  known  to  the  authorities  of 
the  place  of  action,  and  vice  versa.  .  .  .  Who- 
ever is  willing  to  execute  a  deed,  has,  in  the 
first  place,  to  put  the  question  to  himself, 
whether  he  is  able  or  not  to  carry  out  the  ac- 
tion by  himself.  If  the  former  is  the  case,  let 
him  absolutely  initiate  no  one  into  the  matter, 
and  let  him  act  alone.  But  if  that  is  not  the 
case,  then  let  him  look,  with  the  greatest  care, 
for  just  as  many  fellows  as  he  must  have  ab- 
solutely. Not  one  more  nor  less ;  with  these 
let  him  unite  himself  to  a  fighting  group.  .  ,  . 
Has  the  deed  been  completed  ?  Then  the  group 
of  action  dissolves  at  once,  without  further 
parley,  according  to  an  understanding  which 
must  be  had  beforehand, 
leaves  the  place  of  action, 
and  scatters  to  all  direc- 
tions." 

From  "The  Alarm," 
December  26,  1885:  "(A 
free  translation  from  the 
German.)  '  Bakunin's 
groundwork  for  the 
social  revolution.  a 
revolutionist's  duty 
TO  HIMSELF.'  The  revo- 
lutionist is  a  self-offered 
man.  .  .  .  Everything 
in  him  is  consumed  by 
one  single  interest,  by  one 
single  thought,  one  single 
passion :  the  Revolution. 


...  He  lives  in  this  world  for  the  purpose  to 
more  surely  destroy  it.  He  leaves  the  re-or- 
ganization of  society  to  the  future  generations. 
He  knows  only  one  science  :  the  science  of  de- 
struction. . .  .  The  revolutionist  is  a  consecrated 
being  (who  does  not  belong  to  himself) ;  he 
would  not  spare  the  State  in  general  and  the 
entire  class  society,  and  at  the  same  time  does 
not  expect  mercy  for  himself.  Between  him 
and  society  reigns  the  war  of  death  or  life,  pub- 
licly and  secretly,  but  always  steady  and  un- 
pardoning.  .  .  .  Day  and  night  dare  he  have 
only  one  thought,  one  aim :  the  unmerciful 
destruction.  While  he,  cold-blooded,  and 
without  rest,  follows  that  aim,  he  himself 
must  be  ready  to  die  at  any  time,  and  ready 
to  kill  with  his  own  hands  any  one  who 
seeks  to  thwart  his  aim.  ...  In  executing  a  re- 
solved-upon  case,  everybody  must  as  much 
as  possible  depend  upon  himself.  In  case 
where  a  lot  of  destructive  deeds  is  to  be  done, 
everybody  must  be  self-operating,  and  request 
help  and  counsel  of  his  comrades  only  in 
cases  where  it  is  absolutely  necessary  for  suc- 
cess. .  .  .  Equally  must  he  hate  everything 
that  is  anti-revolutionary.  So  much  the  worse 
for  him  if  he  has  in  the  present  world  ties  of 
relation,  friendship,  or  love.  He  is  no  revolu- 
tionist if  these  ties  are  able  to  arrest  his  arm. 
.  .  .  The  entire  filthy  society  of  our  time  should 
be  divided  into  different  categories.  The  first 
consists  of  those  who  are  immediately  sentenced 
to  death.  ...  In  the  first  place  those  persons 
are  to  be  destroyed  who  are  most  harmful  to 
the  revolutionary  organization,  and  whose  vio- 
lent and  sudden  death  is  able  to  terrify  the 
governments  and  shake  their  might  the  most, 
in  so  far  as  it  will  rob  the  powers  that  be  of 
their  most  energetic  and  intelHgent  agents." 

A  book  called  "Science  of  Revolutionary 
Warfare.  Manual  for  instruction  in  the  use 
and  preparation  of  nitro-glycerine  and  dyna- 
mite, gun  cotton,  fulminating  mercury,  bombs, 


%.-. 


"^^-iaa^ 


"aist^^^ 


LINGG  S     BOME 


THE    CHICAGO  ANARCHISTS   OF  1886. 


815 


fuse,  poisons,  etc.,  etc.  By  Johann  Most," 
was  sold  at  picnics  and  mass-meetings  of  the 
Internationals.  1 1  contains  about  sixteen  thou- 
sand words  of  minute  instructions,  but  I  will 
not  repeat  any  of  them.  The  knowledge  is  of 
a  kind  not  useful.  I  extract  only  two  sentences. 
"  What  tears  solid  rocks  into  splinters  may 
not  have  a  bad  effect  in  a  court  or  nrionopo- 
lists'  ball-room."  *'  If  somebody  wants  to  exe- 
cute a  revolutionary  deed,  he  should  not  speak 
about  it  with  others,  but  should  go  to  work 
silently."  Of  this  book  the  "Arbeiter"  of 
March  2,  15,  18,  and  25, 1886,  published,  not 
as  an  advertisement,  but  gratuitously,  this 
notice :  " '  Revolutionary  Warfare '  has  arrived, 
and  is  to  be  had  through  the  librarian  at  107 
5th  Avenue,  at  the  price  of  ten  cents."  Both 
the  "Arbeiter"  and  "The 
Alarm "  were  published 
at  that  place,  and  the 
library  room  was  in  the 
rear  of  the  newspaper  of- 
fice. November  27,  1885, 
the  "Arbeiter"  pubhshed : 
"Steel  and  iron  are  not 
on  hand,  but  tin,  two  or 
three  inches  in  diameter; 
the  price  is  cheap.  It  does 
not  amount  to  fifty  cents 
apiece."  There  is  no  pos- 
sible explanation  of  this 
to  mean  anything  else 
than  bombs,  to  be  found 
by  applying  at  the  office 
of  the  "Arbeiter." 

"  The  Alarm,"  Octo- 
ber 18,  1884:  "The  Anarchist.  The 'Daily 
Inter-Ocean'  closes  a  lengthy  article  thus: 
[quoting].  The  *  Inter-Ocean'  man  has  over- 
looked the  fact  that  one  man  with  a  dynamite 
bomb  is  equal  to  a  regiment  of  militia." 

"The  Alarm,"  October  25,  1884:  "The 
Socialists  are  accused  of  being  bloodthirsty. 
This  is  not  true.  They,  like  all  other  thinking 
people,  know  that  a  revolution  must  come.  .  .  . 
Whether  the  stopping  and  uprooting  of  a  bad 
principle  will  require  bloodshed  depends,  first, 
on  how  old  it  is,  and  how  much  the  people  are 
receiving  it  as  a  second  nature,  and  how  much 
its  supporters  are  interested  in  keeping  it  a-go- 
ing. And,  secondly,  how  strong,  clear,  and 
determined  the  opposition  is  when  it  begins 
to  oppose.  This  is  why  the  communist  and 
anarchist  urges  the  people  to  study  their  school- 
books  on  chemistry,  and  read  the  dictionaries 
and  cyclopedias  on  the  composition  of  all  kinds 
of  explosives,  and  make  themselves  too  strong 
to  be  opposed  with  deadly  weapons.  This 
alone  can  insure  against  bloodshed.  Every 
person  can  get  that  knowledge  inside  of  a  week, 
and  a  majority  now  have  one  or  more  books 


containing  all  this  information  right  in  their 
own  homes.  And  every  man  who  is  master  of 
these  explosives  cannot  be  even  approached 
by  an  army  of  men.  Therefore,  bloodshed 
being  useless,  and  injustice  being  defenseless, 
people  will  be  forced  to  deal  justly  and  gener- 
ously with  each  other." 

"The  Alarm,"  November  i,  1884:  "Thk 
USELESS  CLASSES.  .  .  .  How  Can  all  this  be 
done  ?  Simj)ly  by  making  ourselves  masters 
of  the  use  of  dynamite,  then  declaring  we  will 
make  no  further  claim  to  ownership  in  any- 
thing, and  deny  every  other  person's  right  to 
be  the  owner  of  anything,  and  administer  in- 
stant death,  by  any  and  all  means,  to  any  and 
every  person  who  attempts  to  continue  to  claim 
personal  ownership  in  anything.  This  method, 


l-OISONED     BOMBS. 


and  this  alone,  can  relieve  the  world  of  this 
infernal  monster  called  the  '  right  of  property.' 
Let  us  try  and  not  strike  too  soon,  when  our 
numbers  are  too  small,  or  before  more  of  us 
understand  the  use  and  manufacture  of  the 
weapons.  To  avoid  unnecessary  bloodshed, 
confusion,  and  discouragement,  we  must  be 
prepared,  know  why  we  strike,  and  for  just 
what  we  strike,  and  then  strike  in  unison  and 
with  all  our  might.  Our  war  is  not  against 
men,  but  against  systems;  yet  we  must  pre- 
pare to  kill  men  Avho  try  to  defeat  our  cause, 
or  we  will  strive  in  vain.  The  rich  are  only 
worse  than  the  poor  because  they  have  more 
powder  to  wield  this  infernal  'property  right,' 
and  because  they  have  more  power  to  reform, 
and  take  less  interest  in  doing  so.  Therefore 
it  is  easy  to  see  where  the  bloodiest  blows 
must  be  dealt." 

This  last  extract  indicates  that  Parsons 
thought  that  his  previous  instructions  might 
have  made  some  of  his  deluded  disciples  too 
impatient,  and  that  they  might  be  too  hasty, 
and  therefore  he  says, "  Let  us  try  and  not  strike 
too  soon,  when  our  numbers  are  too  small,  or 


;i6 


THE    CHICAGO  ANARCHISTS   OF  1886. 


EXPLOSIVE    CAN    FILLED     WITH     COMBUSTIBLES. 

before  more  of  us  understand  the  use  and  manu- 
facture of  the  weapons." 

"The  Alarm,"  November  22,  1884:  "This 
PAPER.  This  paper  is  owned  by  the  Interna- 
tional Working  People's  Association.  ...  It 
is  published  by  the  public  spirit  of  working 
people  for  public  good." 

"The  Alarm,"  March  7,  1885  :  "  Our  agi- 
tators. The  agitation  trips  of  comrades  Gor- 
such,  Fielden,  and  Griffin,  during  the  past  two 
weeks,  were  prohfic  of  good  results.  Twelve 
American  groups  were  organized  in  different 
cities,  and  those  united  with  the  International 
are  working  to  bring  into  the  ranks  of  the  revo- 
lutionary army  the  proletariats  of  the  contig- 
uous districts.  The  Working  People's  Interna- 
tional Association  now  embraces  eighty  groups, 
scattered  all  over  the  United  States,  mainly  in 
centers  of  industry,  from  which  the  propa- 
gandism  radiates  everywhere,  the  membership 
being  many  thousands.  In  Chicago,  with  thou- 
sands of  members,  five  newspapers,  with  in- 
creasing circulation,  are  published.  The  good 
work  goes  bravely  on ;  and  exertions  should  be 
redoubled.  Agitation  for  the  purpose  of  or- 
ganization, organization  for  the  purpose  of  re- 
belhon  against  wage  slavery,  is  the  duty  of  the 
hour." 

In  "  The  Alarm  "  of  November  29, 1884,  the 
reward  of  rebellion  is  thus  indicated :  "  No- 
thing but  an  uprising  of  the  people,  and  burst- 
ing open  of  all  stores  and  warehouses  to  the 
free  access  of  the  public,  and  a  free  application 
of  dynamite  to  every  one  who  opposes,  will 
relieve  the  world  of  this  infernal  nightmare  of 
property  and  wages.    Down  with  such  wretched 


nonsense !  No  rascality  or  stupidity  is  sacred 
because  it  is  old.    Down  with  it ! " 

"  The  Alarm,"  January  13, 1885  :    "  Force 

THE    ONLY   DEFENSE    AGAINST    INJUSTICE    AND 

OPPRESSION.  .  .  .  We  are  told  that  force  is 
cruel.  But  this  is  only  true  when  opposition  is 
less  cruel.  If  the  opposition  is  a  relentless 
power,  that  is  starving,  freezing,  exposing,  and 
depriving  tens  of  thousands,  and  the  application 
of  force  would  require  less  suffering  while  re- 
moving the  old  cause,  then  the  force  is  hu- 
mane. Seeing  the  amount  of  needless  suffering 
all  about  us,  we  say  a  vigorous  use  of  dynamite 
is  both  humane  and  economical.  It  will  at  the 
expense  of  less  suffering  prevent  more.  It  is  not 
humane  to  compel  ten  persons  to  starve  to  death 
when  the  execution  of  five  persons  would  pre- 
vent it.  It  is  upon  this  theory  that  we  advo- 
cate the  use  of  dynamite.  It  is  clearly  more 
humane  to  blow  ten  men  into  eternity  than  to 
make  ten  men  starve  to  death." 

"The  Alarm,"  February  21, 1885:  "  Dyna- 
mite !  Of  all  the  good  stuff,  this  is  the  stuff. 
Stuff  several  pounds  of  this  sublime  stuff  into 
an  inch  pipe  (gas  or  water  pipe),  plug  up  both 
ends,  insert  a  cap  with  a  fuse  attached,  place 
this  in  the  immediate  neighborhood  of  a  lot 
of  rich  loafers  who  live  by  the  sweat  of  other 
people's  brows,  and  light  the  fuse.  A  most 
cheerful  and  gratifying  result  will  follow.  In 
giving  dynamite  to  the  downtrodden  millions 
of  the  globe,  science  has  done  its  best  work. 


ENGEL  S    FURNACE. 


THE    CHICAGO   ANARCHISTS   OF  1886. 


817 


The  dear  stuff  can  be  carried  around  in  the 
pocket  without  danger,  while  it  is  a  formidable 
weapon  against  any  force  of  militia,  poHce,  or 
detectives  that  may  want  to  stifle  the  cry  for 
justice  that  goes  forth  from  the  plundered 
slaves.  It  is  something  not  very  ornamental, 
but  exceedingly  useful.  It  can  be  used  against 
persons  and  things.  It  is  better  to  use  it  against 
the  former  than  against  bricks  and  masonry. 
It  is  a  genuine  boon  for  the  disinherited,  while 
it  brings  terror  and  fear  to  the  robbers.  .  .  . 
Dynamite  is  hke  Bancjuo's  ghost,  it  keeps  on 
fooling  around,  somewhere  or  other,  in  sjnte 
of  his  Satanic  majesty.  A  pound  of  this  good 
stuff  beats  a  bushel  of  ballots  all  hollow,  and 
don't  you  forget  it.  .  .  .  If  workingmen  would 
be  truly  free,  they  must  learn  to  know  why  they 
are  slaves.  They  must  rise  above  petty  preju- 
dice and  learn  to  think.  From  thought  to  ac- 
tion is  not  far,  and  when  the  worker  has  seen 
the  chain,  he  need  but  look  a  little  closer  to 
find  near  at  hand  the  sledge  with  which  to 
shatter  every  link.    The  sledge  is  dynamite." 

"The  Alarm,"  April  18,  1885  :  "Assassina- 
tion. .  .  .  The  moment  the  abolition  of  a 
government  is  suggested,  the  mind  pictures  the 
uprising  of  a  hundred  little  despotic  govern- 
ments on  every  hand,  quarreling  among  them- 
selves, and  domineering  over  the  unorganized 
people.  This  fact  suggests  the  idea  that  the 
present  governments  must  be  destroyed,  only 
in  a  manner  that  will  prevent  the  organization 
or  rise  of  any  and  all  other  governments,  whe- 
ther it  be  a  government  of  three  men  or  three 
hundred  million.  No  government  can  exist 
without  a  head,  and  by  assassinating  the  head 
just  as  fast  as  a  government  head  appears,  the 
government  can  be  destroyed,  and  by  this  same 
process  all  other  governments  can  be  kept  out 
of  existence.  This  is  the  policy  of  the  nihilist 
in  Russia,  and  the  moment  it  gets  any  popular 
support  throughout  civilization  all  governments 
will  disappear  forever.  Those  governments  least 
offensive  to  the  people  should  be  destroyed  last. 
All  governments  exist  by  the  abridgment  of 
human  liberty,  and  the  more  government  the 
less  liberty.  He  alone  is  free  who  submits 
to  no  government.  All  governments  are  domi- 
neering powers,  and  any  domineering  power 
is  a  natural  enemy  to  all  mankind,  and  ought 
to  be  treated  as  such.  Assassination  will  remove 
the  evil  from  the  face  of  the  earth.  Man  will 
always  have  and  always  need  advisers,  teach- 
ers, and  leaders  in  all  departments  of  life,  but 
bosses,  jailers,  and  drivers  are  unnecessary. 
Man's  leader  is  his  friend.  His  driver  is  his 
enemy.  This  distinction  should  be  understood, 
and  the  parties  should  be  dealt  with  accord- 
ingly. Assassination  properly  applied  is  wise, 
just,  humane,  and  brave.  For  freedom,  all 
things  are  just." 
Vol.  XLV.—  107. 


From  August  17, 1885,  to  its  last  issue  "The 
Alarm "  kept  standing  this  notice :  "  The 
armed  section  of  the  American  group  meets 
every  Monday  night,  at  54  West  Lake  Street." 

In  his  address  to  me  before  sentence  was 
pronounced.  Parsons  said:  "These  articles  that 
appear  in  'The  Alarm,'  for  some  of  them  I  am 
not  resjjonsible  any  more  than  is  the  editor  of 
any  other  paper.  And  I  did  not  write  every- 
thing in  'The  Alarm,'  and  it  might  be  possible 


ENGRAVED   BY   I 
INSPECTOR    JOHN     EONFIELD. 


that  there  were  some  things  in  that  paper  which 
I  am  not  ready  to  indorse.  I  am  frank  to  ad- 
mit that  such  is  the  case." 

The  statute  of  Illinois  permits  defendants  in 
criminal  cases  to  be  witnesses  on  their  own  be- 
half. He  had  availed  himself  of  that  permis- 
sion, but  as  a  witness  had  not  expressed  any 
disapproval  of  the  sentiment  of  any  of  the  ex- 
tracts from  "The  Alarm,"  all  of  which  (much 
more  than  are  here  reproduced)  were  read  be- 
fore he  testified.  Read  now,  from  the  paper 
that  he  edited,  the  report  of  a  speech  that  he 
made,  and  then  select  from  the  foregoing  ex- 
tracts any  which  he  would  not  have  been 
"ready  to  indorse"  before  the  tragedy  of 
May  4,  1886. 

On  April  28,  1885,  the  Board  of  Trade  of 
Chicago  dedicated  a  magnificent  new  building 
which  they  had  erected  as  a  place  for  their 
business.  The  dedication  was  at  night.  The 
same  night  a  large  gathering  of  people  was 
addressed  by  Parsons  and  others  on  Mar- 
ket Square,  some  six  squares  distant  from  the 


8i8 


THE    CHICAGO  ANARCHISTS   OF  1886. 


Board  of  Trade  building.  Then  a  procession 
was  formed,  which  marched  toward  the  build- 
ing, but  cordons  of  police  met  the  people  at 
different  streets,  and  prevented  them  from  get- 
ting nearer  than  a  block  to  the  building.  They 
halted  at  one  place  and  sang  the  "  Marseillaise," 


ENGRAVED  BY   R.  G.  TIET2E. 
INSPECTOR    MICHAEL    J.    SCHAACK.' 

and  then  marched  to  the  "  Arbeiter"  building, 
where  more  speeches  were  made. 

"The  Alarm"  of  May  2,  1885,  reported 
Parsons  as  follows :"....  The  present  social 
system  makes  private  property  of  the  means  of 
labor,  and  the  resources  of  life — capital  —  and 
thereby  creates  classes  and  inequalities,  con- 
ferring upon  the  holders  of  property  the  power 
to  live  upon  the  labor  product  of  the  proper- 
tyless.  Whoever  owns  our  bread  owns  our  bal- 
lots, for  a  man  who  must  sell  his  labor  or  starve 
must  sell  his  vote  when  the  same  alternative  is 
presented.  The  inequalities  of  our  social  system, 
its  classes,  its  privileges,  its  enforced  poverty 
and  misery,  arises  out  of  the  institution  of  pri- 
vate property,  and  so  long  as  this  system  prevails 
our  wives  and  children  will  be  driven  to  toil, 
while  their  fathers  and  brothers  are  thrown  into 
enforced  idleness,  and  the  men  of  the  Board  of 
Trade  and  all  other  profit-mongers  and  legal- 
ized gamblers  who  live  by  fleecing  the  people 
will  continue  to  accumulate  milhons  at  the 
expense  of  their  helpless  victims.    This  grand 


conspiracy  against  our  liberty  and  lives  is  main- 
tained and  upheld  by  statute  law  and  the  con- 
stitution, and  enforced  by  the  military  arms  of 
the  State.  If  we  would  achieve  our  liberation 
from  economic  bondage,  and  acquire  our  nat- 
ural right  to  life  and  liberty,  every  man  must 
lay  by  a  part  of  his  wages,  buy  a  Colt's  navy 
revolver  [cheers,  and  '  that  's  what  we  want '], 
a  Winchester  rifle  [a  voice :  '  and  ten  pounds 
of  dynamite;  we  will  make  it  ourselves'],  and 
learn  how  to  make  and  use  dynamite  [cheers]. 
Then  raise  the  flag  of  rebellion  [cries  of'  Bravo' 
and  cheers],  the  scarlet  banner  of  liberty,  frater- 
nity, equality,  and  strike  down  to  the  earth 
every  tyrant  that  lives  upon  this  globe.  [Cheers, 
and  cries  of  '  Vive  la  Commune  ! ']  Tyrants 
have  no  right  which  we  should  respect.  Until 
this  is  done  you  will  continue  to  be  robbed,  to  be 
plundered,  to  be  at  the  mercy  of  the  privileged 
few;  therefore  agitate  for  the  purpose  of  organ- 
ization, organize  for  the  purpose  of  rebellion, 
for  wage-slaves  have  nothing  to  lose  but  their 
chains;  they  have  a  world  of  freedom  and  hap- 
piness to  win.    [Cheers.]  " 

I  fear  these  quotations  will  prove  very  tire- 
some to  readers,  but  to  accomplish  my  task 
of  showing  the  guilt  of  the  anarchists,  I  must 
make  a  great  many  more. 

The  "Arbeiter,"  February  23, 1885 :  "Thicker 
and  thicker  the  clouds  gather  around  the  po- 
litical and  social  horizon  of  the  world,  more 
and  more  the  darkness  increases.  Without 
laying  claim  to  the  reputation  of  a  prophet, 
one  can  say  with  certainty  that  this  cannot 
end  without  a  mighty  storm,  bringing  terror 
and  blessing,  destruction  and  freedom.  Discon- 
tent and  hatred  of  all  that  is  corrupt  and  rotten 
that  is  existing  grows  and  prospers  everywhere. 
The  struggle  between  the  parties  is  tapering, 
the  diplomatic  machinations  of  the  so-called 
statesmen  have  reached  their  culminating  point. 
The  already  approaching  revolution  promises 
to  be  much  grander  and  more  terrible  than 
that  at  the  close  of  the  last  century,  which  only 
broke  out  in  one  country.  The  coming  revo- 
lution will  be  general,  for  it  makes  itself  already 
felt  everywhere  and  generally.  It  will  demand 
more  sacrifices,  for  the  number  of  those  over 
whom  we  have  to  sit  in  judgment  is  now  much 
greater  than  that  of  the  last  century." 

Referring  to  Philadelphia  labor  troubles,  the 
"Arbeiter "of  March 2,1885, says:  "That  much 
is  sure,  that  thing  could  not  have  happened  in 
Chicago  without  placing  for  exhibition  on  the 
telegraph-wires  and  cornices  of  houses  a  dozen 
cadavers  of  policemen  in  pieces  for  each  broken 
skull  of  a  workingman.    And  this  is  due  solely 


1  The  originals  (photographs)   of  the  bombs,  cir-  his  investigations  in  the  capacity  of  chief  detective  em- 

culars,  and  portraits  of  the  members  of  the  jury  are  ployed  on   the  case,  and  who  used  them  later  in  his 

from  the  collection  of  Inspector  Michael  J.  Schaack  of  book,  "Anarchy  and  Anarchists :   a  History  of  the  Red 

the  Chicago  police,  who  collected  them  in  the  course  of  Terror  and  the  Social  Revolution." 


THE    CHICAGO  ANARCHISTS   OF  1886. 


819 


and  purely  to  the  revolutionary  propaganda 
carried  on  here.  We  wonder  whether  the  work- 
ingmen  in  other  cities  will  take  a  lesson  from 
this  occurrence  and  will  at  last  supply  them- 
selves with  weapons,  dynamite,  and  prussic  acid 
as  far  as  that  has  not  been  done  yet." 

The  "Arbeiter,"  March  1 1, 1885 :  "The com- 
munity will  soon  have  to  decide  whether  to  be  or 
not  to  be  \  either  the  police  must  be  and  then  the 
community  cannot  be,  or  the  community  must 
be  and  then  the  police  cannot  be;  one  only  of 
the  two  is  possible." 

The  "  Arbeiter,"  March  23, 1885 :  "  Yet  one 
thing  more.  Although  every  day  brings  the 
news  of  collisions  between  armed  murder-serfs 
of  the  bourgeoisie  with  unarmed  crowds  of  peo- 
ple (strikers  and  the  like),  we  must  ever  and  again 
read  in  the  so-called  workingmen's  papers :  Dis- 
cussions of  the  question  of  arming  ought  to  be 
avoided  in  the  associations  of  the  proletarian. 
We  characterize  such  pacifying  efforts  as  crim- 
inal. Each  workingman  ought  to  have  been 
armed  long  ago.  We  leave  it  an  open  ques- 
tion whether  whole  corporations  are  able  to 
completely  fit  themselves  out  in  a  military  point 
of  view  with  all  their  numbers ;  but  we  say  that 
each  single  one,  if  he  has  the  necessary  serious- 
ness and  the  good  will,  can  arm  himself  little 
by  little  very  easily.  Daggers  and  revolvers 
are  easily  to  be  gotten.  Hand-grenades  are 
cheaply  to  be  produced ;  explosives,  too,  can 
be  obtained,  and  finally  possibihties  are  also 
given  to  buy  arms  on  instalments.  To  give 
an  impulse  in  that  direction  one  should  never 
tire  of.  For  not  only  the  revolution  proper, 
approaching  with  gigantic  steps,  commands  to 
prepare  for  it,  but  also  the  wage  contests  of 
to-day  demand  of  us  not  to  enter  into  it  with 
empty  hands.  Let  us  understand  the  signs  of 
the  times.  Let  us  have  a  care  for  the  present, 
that  we  will  not  be  surprised  by  the  future 
unprepared." 

The  " Arbeiter,"  May  5,  1885:  "When any- 
where a  small  party  of  workingmen  dare  to 
speak  of  rights  and  privileges,  then  the  '  order' 
draw  together  all  the  murdering  scoundrels  of 
the  whole  city,  and  if  necessary  from  the  whole 
country,  to  put  their  sovereignty  the  more  clear- 
ly before  the  sovereigns.  In  short,  the  whole 
power  of  the  capital — that  is,  the  entire  gov- 
ernment—  is  ever  ready  to  suppress  the  petty 
demonstrations  of  the  workingmen  by  force 
of  arms  one  after  another,  now  here,  then 
there.  This  would  be  quite  different  if  the 
workingmen  of  the  entire  country  could  only 
see  that  their  class  is  in  this  wise  subjected 
part  by  part  without  condition  and  without 
repartee.  The  workingmen  ought  to  take  aim 
at  every  member  of  the  militia,  and  do  with 
him  as  one  would  do  with  some  one  of  whom 
it  is  known  that  he  is  after  taking  one's  Hfe. 


It  might  then  sooner  be  difficult  to  obtain 
murdering  tools." 

The  "  Arbeiter,"  January  5,  1885,  reporting 
a  speech  by  Spies  on  the  ] previous  afternoon 
at  54  West  Lake  street:  "When  we  resort  to 
murdering  we  only  follow  the  law  of  necessity, 
the  force  of  self-preservation,  we  murder  to 
put  an  end  to  general  murder,  we  put  mur- 
derers out  of  the  way." 

I  must  stop  somewhere  in  these  quotations 
from  articles  published  in  the  papers  of  which 
Spies  and  Parsons  were  the  editors.  The  con- 
tents of  newspapers  through  months  and  years 
are  not  to  be  reproduced  in  a  magazine  article; 
but  if  I  made  statements  on  my  own  authority 
only,  or  on  that  of  witnesses  testifying  at  the 
trial,  the  truth  of  such  statements  would  be 
denied  by  anarchists,  and  doubted  by  the  sen- 
timental humanitarians  who  think  all  punish- 
ment is  too  much,  and  that  criminals  should 
be  coddled  into  reform  by  love. 

As  showing  the  extent  to  which  the  instruc- 
tions of  the  two  papers  had  been  followed, 
long  before  the  murder  of  Degan,  by  the  class 
of  people  to  whom  they  were  addressed,  "The 
Alarm's"  account  of  Thanksgiving  Day,  1884, 
and  the  "Arbeiter's"  account  of  the  Board  of 


ENGRAVED   I 
CAPTAIN    WILLIAM     WARIX 


Trade  demonstration  of  April  28, 1885,  should 
be  given. 

"The  Alarm,"  November  29,  1884:  On 
"The  day  designated,  Thursday,  the  27th  day 
of  November,  opened  with  sleet  and  rain.  .  .  . 
The  severity  of  the  weather  showed  something 
of  the  spirit  that  must  be  in  the  people  who 


ENGRAVED   By   C.  STATE. 


TURNING    BACK    THE    ANARCHISTS.     (THE    BOARD    OF    TRADE    DEMONSTRATION.) 


THE    CHICAGO  ANARCHISTS   OF  1886. 


were  not  deterred  by  it.  .  .  .  Mr.  Parsons  then 
called  for  the  resolutions,  which  were  then  read 
as  follows: 

" '  Whereas,  ...  as  this  system  cannot  be 
introduced  against  existing  ignorance,  selfish- 
ness, and  distrust  without  the  force  of  arms 
and  strong  explosives,  therefore  be  it 

'■'■'■Resolved,  that  when  all  stores,  storehouses, 
vacant  tenements,  and  transporting  property 
are  thrown  open  and  held  open  to  the  free  ac- 
cess of  the  general  public,  the  good  of  man- 
kind and  the  saving  of  blood  requires  that  all 
forcible  opposition  should  be  dealt  with  sum- 
marily as  fast  as  it  may  present  itself.  .  .  . 
Therefore  our  policy  is  wise,  humane,  and 
practical,  and  ought  to  be  enforced  at  the 
earliest  possible  moment,  with  a  just  regard 
for  numbers  and  implements.'  ,  .  .  The  audi- 
ence fell  into  line  by  fours,  forming  a  proces- 
sion of  over  three  thousand  men,  and  then 
moved  off,  headed  by  the  band,  which  woke 
the  echoes  of  the  lofty  buildings  around  to 
the  strains  of  the  Marseillaise.  Two  large 
flags,  one  black  and  the  other  red,  headed  the 
procession." 

The "Arbeiter," April  29, 1885  :  .  .  .  "Now, 
the  march  formed,  headed  by  a  company  of  the 
Bohemian  groups,  the  metal-workers,  the  North 
side  groups  and  the  Lehr  und  Wehr  Verein. 
'  These  fellows  would  do  all  credit  to  the  guard 
grenadier  regiment,'  remarked  a  German  on 
Madison  street,  pointing  to  the  advance  guard 
of  the  procession.  Next  followed  three  female 
comrades,  who  carried  two  red  flags  and  one 
black  one.  .  .  .  Then  followed  the  procession, 
which  could  not  be  kept  in  good  order,  which 
is  to  be  regretted.  Behind  these  marched  a 
strong  company  of  well-armed  comrades  of 
the  various  groups.  Let  us  remark  here  that 
with  perhaps  few  exceptions  they  were  all 
well  armed,  and  that  also  the  nitro-glycerine 
pills  were  not  missing.  They  were  prepared 
for  a  probable  attack,  and  if  it  had  come  to  a 
collision,  there  would  have  been  pieces.  The 
cordons  of  the  police  could  have  been  quite 
excellently  adapted  for  experiments  with  ex- 
plosives. About  twenty  detectives  were  loiter- 
ing about  the  Market  Square  at  the  beginning 
and  then  disappeared.  That  explains  the  keep- 
ing back  of  our  otherwise  impertinent  order- 
scoundrels.  The  procession,  which  was  a  i&\x 
blocks  long  although  the  participants  marched 
in  close  order,  moved  down  Madison  street  to 
Clark,  and  from  there  south  to  Jackson,  where 
about  one  hundred  policemen  had  blocked 
the  street.  The  procession,  which  was  about 
one  hundred  paces  distant  from  the  brightly 
lighted  palace,  sang  the  Marseillaise,  with  the 
accompaniment  of  the  orchestrion,and  marched 
on  La  Salle  street,  then  down  La  Salle  street 
to  Van   Buren  street  and   up   Clark   street. 


About  five  hundred  policemen  were  stationed 
around  the  Board  of  'IVade.  They  suffered 
everything.  '  Ye  miserable  hounds.  Ye  are  the 
smaller  thieves,  and  therefore  must  protect  the 
greater  ones.  Servile  executioners ;  gang  of 
murderers,'  and  other  beautiful  flatteries,  the 
bandits  accepted  as  quietly  as  if  it  did  ncjt 
concern  them  at  all.  Here  and  there  some 
were  pushed  back,  but  not  a  one  moved. 
After  a  few  jeers  had  been  given  to  the  thieves 
and  cutthroats,  the  procession  returned  to  Fifth 
Avenue,  where  Parsons,  Spies,  and  Fielden 
spoke  from  a  window  of  the  'Arbeiter  Zei- 
tung.'  " 

Now  I  undertake  to  say  that  the  mere  ad- 
vice to  great  masses  of  working  people  (of 
whom  Spies,  in  his  testimony  as  a  witness,  said 
that  they  were  "  stujnd  and  ignorant,"  among 
whom  there  would  of  necessity  be  some  vicious, 
and  to  whom,  being  the  least  prosperous  of  the 
community,  envy  of  those  in  better  condition 
than  themselves  would  be  no  unnatural  pas- 
sion), and  especially  advice  to  arm  themselves 
with  pistols,  daggers,  and  bombs, —  weapons  to 
be  concealed  about  the  person, —  was  advice  to 
use  such  weapons  at  such  times  and  places,  and 
against  such  persons, — at  least  such  persons  as 
were  of  the  classes  so  vehemently  denounced 
by  the  advisers, —  as  the  whim  or  caprice  of  the 
armed  might  dictate.  But  when  added  to  that 
advice  was  the  instruction,  in  both  the  "Arbei- 
ter" and  "The  Alarm,"  that  each  revolutionist 
should,  when  possible,  perform  a  revolutionary 
act  without  assistance,  and  without  communi- 
cating his  design  to  anybody,  then  every  reader 
following  the  advice  to  arm  himself  would — 
must  —  understand  that  he  must  exercise  his 
own  discretion  in  using  his  weapons. 

On  the  trial  it  was  urged  by  the  defense  that 
the  advice  to  arm  was  that  working-men  might 
resist  unlawful  attacks  of  police  and  militia.  It 
is  enough  in  reply  to  such  an  excuse  to  say  that 
no  instance  has  ever  occurred  of  calling  upon 
the  police  or  militia,  during  labor  troubles,  to 
compel  anybody  to  work ;  always  they  have 
been  called  to  protect  men  who  wanted  to 
work,  or  property  which  was  endangered  by 
those  who  had  quitted  work.  Nor  was  there 
any  disguise  about  this  among  the  anarchists. 
I  quote  from  " The  Alarm,"  September  5 , 1 88 5 : 
"  Eight  hours,  our  reply.  Will  the  rich  help 
to  bring  it  about ;  or  oppose  it  with  starvation, 
prisons,  and  cold  steel  ?  .  .  .  Shortening  the 
hours  of  labor  is  no  real  remedy.  It  still  leaves 
people  in  the  condition  of  masters  and  servants. 
.  .  .  Private  property  makes  competition  neces- 
sary, and  monopoly  must  result.  We  can  get 
no  real  relief  without  striking  at  the  root  of 
the  evil ;  namely,  cutting  off  man's  right  to 
convert  anything  into  private  property.  .  .  . 
'  The  Alarm '  does  not  antagonize  the  eight- 


822 


THE    CHICAGO   ANARCHISTS    OF  1886. 


hour  movement;  viewing  it  from  the  stand- 
point that  it  is  an  economic  struggle,  it  simply 
points  out  that  it  is  a  lost  battle,  and  further 
proves  that  though  the  eight-hour  system 
should  be  established,  the  wage-workers  would 
gain  nothing.  They  would  still  remain  slaves 
to  their  capitahstic  masters.  ...  If  the  strike 
should  turn  out  successful,  the  eight-hour  sys- 
tem woul^  result  in  the  extermination  of  every 
small  manufacturer  and  small  shop  man.  .  .  . 
Now,  in  regard  to  the  proposed  strike  next 
spring,  a  few  practical  words  to  our  comrades. 
The  number  of  organized  wage-workers  in  the 
country  may  be  about  800,000 ;  the  number 
of  the  unemployed  about  2,000,000.  Will  the 
manufacturing  Kings  grant  the  modest  request 
under  such  circumstances  ?  No,  sir.  The  small 
ones  can  not,  and  the  big  ones  will  not.  They 
will  then  draw  from  the  army  of  the  unem- 
ployed ;  the  strikers  will  attempt  to  stop  them. 
Then  comes  the  police  and  the  militia.  Say, 
workingmen,  are  you  prepared  to  meet  the  lat- 
ter ;  are  you  armed  ?  " 

"  The  Alarm,"  Oct.  1 7, 1885 :  "  Eight  hours. 
.  .  .  Mr.  August  Spies  was  introduced  at  this 
point,  and  offered  the  following  resolution  : 

" '  Whereas,  a  general  movement  has  been 
started  among  the  organized  wage-workers  of 
this  country  for  the  establishment  of  an  eight- 
hour  work  day  to  begin  on  May  i,  1886 ;  and 

"  '•Whereas,  it  is  to  be  expected  that  the  class 
of  professional  idlers,  the  governing  class,  who 
prey  upon  the  bones  and  marrow  of  useful  mem- 
bers of  society,  will  resist  this  attempt  by  call- 
ing to  their  assistance  the  Pinkertons,  the  Po- 
lice, and  the  Militia ;  therefore  be  it 

"  ^Resolved,  that  we  urge  upon  all  wage- 
workers  the  necessity  of  procuring  arms  before 
this  inauguration  of  the  proposed  eight-hour 
strike,  in  order  to  be  in  a  position  of  meeting 
our  foe  with  his  own  argument,  force. 

"  ^Resolved,  that  while  we  are  skeptical  in  re- 
gard to  the  benefits  that  will  accrue  to  the  wage- 
workers  from  the  introduction  of  an  eight-hour 
work  day,  we  nevertheless  pledge  ourselves  to 
aid  and  assist  our  brethren  in  this  class  struggle 
with  all  that  lies  in  our  power  as  long  as  they 
show  an  open  and  defiant  front  to  our  common 
enemy,  the  labor-devouring  class  of  aristocratic 
vagabonds,  the  brutal  murderers  of  our  com- 
rades in  St.  Louis,  Lemont,  Chicago,  Phila- 
delphia, and  other  places.  Our  war-cry  may 
be  "  death  to  the  enemy  of  the  human  race, 
our  despoilers." ' 

"  August  Spies  supposed  that  Mr.  Magie  did 
not  like  the  terms  in  which  the  members  of  the 
government  were  referred  to.  The  reason  of 
this  was  that  Mr.  Magie  was  one  of  the  politi- 
cal vagabonds  himself  There  were  9,000,000 
of  the  people  engaged  in  industrial  trades  in 
this  country.  There  were  but  1,000,000  of  them 


as  yet  organized,  while  there  were  2,000,000 
of  men  unemployed.  To  make  the  movement 
in  which  they  were  engaged  a  successful  one,  it 
must  be  a  revolutionary  one.  Don't  let  us,  he 
exclaimed,  forget  the  most  forcible  argument 
of  all  —  the  gun  and  dynamite." 

"The  Alarm,"  April  3,  1886:  "American 
Group.  Mr.  Parsons  thought  the  organization 
of  the  vast  body  of  unskilled  and  unorganized 
laboring  men  and  women  a  necessity  in  order 
that  they  might  formulate  their  demands  and 
make  an  effective  defense  of  their  rights.  He 
thought  the  attempt  to  inaugurate  the  eight- 
hour  system  would  break  down  the  capitalistic 
system,  and  bring  about  such  disorder  and 
hardship  that  the  social  revolution  would  be- 
come a  necessity.  As  all  roads  in  ancient  times 
led  to  Rome,  so  now  all  labor  movements  of 
whatever  character  lead  to  socialism." 

The  "  Arbeiter,"  January  22,  1886:  "The 
eight-hour  question  is  not,  or  at  least  should  not 
be,  the  final  end  of  the  present  organization,  but, 
in  comparison  to  the  present  state  of  things,  a 
progress  not  to  be  underrated.  But  now  let 
us  consider  the  question  in  itself  How  is  the 
eight-hour  day  to  be  brought  about  ?  Why,  the 
thinking  workingman  must  see  himself,  under 
the  present  power  of  capital  in  comparison  to 
labor,  it  is  impossible  to  enforce  the  eight-hour 
day  in  all  branches  of  business  otherwise  than 
with  armed  force.  W^ith  empty  hands  the  work- 
ingman will  hardly  be  able  to  cope  with  the  rep- 
resentatives of  the  club  in  case  after  the  first  of 
May  of  this  year  there  should  be  a  general 
strike.  Then  the  bosses  will  simply  employ 
other  men,  so-called  'scabs';  such  will  always 
be  found.  The  whole  movement  then  would 
be  nothing  but  filling  the  places  with  new  men; 
but  if  the  workingmen  are  prepared  to  eventu- 
ally stop  the  working  of  the  factories,  to  defend 
himself  with  the  aid  of  dynamite  and  bombs 
against  the  militia,  which  will  of  course  be  em- 
ployed, then  and  only  then  you  can  expect  a 
thorough  success  of  the  eight-hour  movement. 
Therefore,  workingmen,  I  call  upon  you,  arm 
yourselves." 

The  "Arbeiter,"  April  26,  1886,  reporting  a 
speech  of  Spies  on  Easter  Sunday :  "...  Be 
men  now.  Break  down  the  doors  of  your  extor- 
tioners instead  of  timidly  knocking  on  them. 
Conquer  the  lost  manhood.  After  you  have 
introduced  the  eight-hour  day  now,  then  let 
there  be  no  halt.  Onward  is  the  motto  in  the 
march  of  triumph,  until  the  last  stone  of  the 
robber  bastile  is  removed  and  enslaved  human- 
ity is  free." 

It  must  be  clear  to  every  reader  that  the  an- 
archists contemplated  no  benefit  to  the  hiborifig 
poor,  except  through  ajiarchy,  and  knew  that 
anarchy  could  be  brought  about  only  through 
the  subjugation  or  extirpation  of  the  majority 


THE    CHICAGO   ANARCHISTS   OF  1886. 


823 


by  the  minority  through  violence.  How  could 
that  violence  be  exerted  but  at  the  discretion 
of  individuals  ?  Revolutionary  acts  by  single 
men,  or  by  the  fewest  possible  assassination ; 
escape  from  discovery  by  the  authorities  —  for 
these  they  published  elaborate  instructions  in 
their  papers,  and  at  their  meedngs  distributed 
Most's  book,  containing  instructions  still  more 
elaborate. 

From  the  columns  of  the  "  Arbeiter  "  I  can 
present  the  condition  of  Chicago  as  that  fatal 
fourth  day  of  May  approached  better  and  more 
conclusively  than  in  words  of  my  own. 

"  Die  Fackel  "  (Sunday  edition  of  the  "  Ar- 
beiter"), May  2,  1886:  "Now  or  nevkk. 
The  mortal  enemies  cross  swords.  .  .  .  The 
first  twenty-four  hours  of  the  battle  are  passed. 
.  .  .  Everything  depends  upon  quick  and  im- 
mediate action.  The  tactics  of  the  bosses  are 
to  gain  time;  the  tactics  of  the  strikers  must  be 
to  grant  them  no  time.  By  Monday  or  Tuesday 
the  conflict  must  have  reached  its  highest  in- 
tensity, else  the  success  will  be  doubtful.  Within 
a  week  the  fire,  the  enthusiasm,  will  be  gone, 
and  then  the  bosses  will  celebrate  victories.  It 
is  treacherous,  moreover,  when  here  and  there 
shop  organizations  and  others  enter  into  com- 
promises. ,  .  .  They  are  worse  than 'scabs'.  .  .  . 
The  feeling  among  the  radical  labor  organiza- 
tions is  an  encouraging  one,  and  the  situation 
is  generally  hopeful." 

The  "Arbeiter,"  May  3, 1886:  "A  hot  con- 
flict. The  determination  of  the  radical 
elements  brings  the  extortioners  in  nu- 
MEROUS INSTANCES  TO  TERMS.  ThE  CAPITAL- 
ISTIC PRESS  HAS  GOOD  GROUNDS  FOR  ABUSING 

THE  Reds.  Without  them  no  agitation. 
Numerous  Meetings. 

"  The  general  situation  at  noon  to-day  was 
encouraging.  A  considerable  number  of  ex- 
tortioners had  capitulated  this  morning,  and 
further  capitulations  are  looked  for  in  the  course 
of  the  day.  The  freight-handlers  were  march- 
ing in  full  force  from  depot  to  depot  at  noon 
to-day.  It  was  rumored  that '  scabs  '  had  been 
imported  from  Milwaukee.  The  railroad  de- 
pots are  occupied  by  special  policemen,  while 
the  municipal  minions  of  order,  under  the  com- 
mand of  five  lieutenants,  have  intrenched  them- 
selves in  the  armory.  The  arch-rascals  have 
made  provisions  for  good  victuals  and  drink. 
The  laborers  in  the  stone-yards  have  formed 
a  union,  and  demand  nine  hours'  pay  for  eight 
hours'  work,  and  as  this  was  not  granted  (H. 
First,  Walters,  and  the  12th  Street  Company 
are  the  only  ones  that  have  granted  the  de- 
mands) they  went  on  a  strike.  The  stone-cut- 
ters and  masons  are  compelled  to  join  in  the 
strike.  A  strike  will  probably  take  place  in  the 
lumber  districts.  The  brewers  plan  a  strike  if 
their  bosses  do  not  fully  accede  to  their  de- 


mand to-tlay.  In  the  furniture  business  strike 
and  lockout  respectively  still  continue.  Many 
manufacturers  have  already  indicated  a  reach- 
ness  to  grant  ten  per  cent,  increase  of  wages. 
The  Cabinet-makers'  Union  will  make  no  com- 
promise. The  metal-workers  are  confident  of 
victory.  The  number  of  strikers  to-day  can- 
not be  determined,  but  will  probably  amount 
to  forty  thousand.  Courage  !  Courage,  is  our 
cry." 

Readers  would  tire  if  I  were  to  copy  from 
the  "Arbeiter"  for  several  days  previous  to 
the  publication  of  the  last  article,  and  show 
how  just  was  the  boast :  "  The  capitalistic 
press  has  good  grounds  for  abusing  the  Reds. 
Without  them  no  agitation." 

On  the  afternoon  of  May  4, 1886, —  the  after- 
noon preceding  the  night  of  slaughter, —  the 
"  Arbeiter  "  published,  with  all  the  display  of 
head-lines,  capital  letters,  and  exclamation- 
points  known  to  the  printers'  art,  this  article 
from  a  manuscript  written  by  Spies  : 

"Blood!    Lead  and  powder  as  a  cure 

for  DISSATISFIED  WORKMEN!  AbOUT  SIX  LA- 
BORERS MORTALLY,  AND  FOUR  TIMES  THAT 
NUMBER  SLIGHTLY,  WOUNDED  !  ThUS  ARE  THE 
EIGHT-HOUR  MEN  TO  BE  INTIMIDATED.  ThIS 
IS  LAW  AND  ORDER.  BrAVE  GIRLS  PARAD- 
ING THE  CITY.  The  LAW-AND-ORDER  BEAST 
FRIGHTENS     THE     HUNGRY     CHILDREN     AWAY 

WITH  CLUBS.    General  News. 

"  Six  months  ago,  when  the  eight-hour  move- 
ment began,  there  were  speakers  and  journals 
of  the  I.  A.  A.  who  proclaimed  and  wrote : 
'  Workmen,  if  you  want  to  see  the  eight-hour 
system  introduced,  arm  yourselves.  If  you  do 
not  do  this,  you  will  be  sent  home  with  bloody 
heads,  and  birds  will  sing  May  songs  upon  your 
graves,'  'This  is  nonsense,'  was  the  reply.  '  If 
the  workmen  are  organized,  they  will  gain  the 
eight  hours  in  their  Sunday  clothes.'  Well,  what 
do  you  say  now  ?  Were  we  right  or  wrong  ? 
Would  the  occurrence  of  yesterday  have  been 
possible  if  our  advice  had  been  taken.  Wage- 
workers,  yesterday  the  police  of  this  city  mur- 
dered at  the  McCormick  factory,  so  far  as  it 
can  now  be  ascertained,  four  of  your  brothers, 
and  wounded,  more  or  less  seriously,  some 
twenty-five  more.  If  brothers  who  defended 
themselves  with  stones  (a  few  of  them  had  little 
snappers  in  the  shape  of  revolvers)  had  been 
provided  with  good  weapons,  and  one  single 
dynamite  bomb,  not  one  of  the  murderers  would 
have  escaped  his  well-merited  fate.  As  it  was, 
only  four  of  them  were  disfigured.  That  is  too 
bad.  The  massacre  of  yesterday  took  place 
in  order  to  fill  the  forty  thousand  workmen 
of  this  city  with  fear  and  terror — took  place 
in  order  to  force  back  into  the  yoke  of  sla- 
very the  laborers  who  had  become  dissatisfied 
and  mutinous.  Will  they  succeed  in  this?  The 


DRAWN   BY  A.    CASTAIGNE. 


CAPTAIN   WARD    COMMANDS  THE    CROWD   TO    DISPERSE,   "IN    THE    NAME    OF    THE 
PEOPLE    OF    THE    STATE   OF    ILLINOIS." 


THE   CHICAGO  ANARCHISTS   OF  1886. 


825 


near  future  will  answer  this  question.  We 
will  not  anticipate  the  course  of  events  with 
surmises, 

"  The  employees  in  the  lumber-yards  on  the 
South  Side  held  a  meeting  yesterday  afternoon 
at  the  Black  Road,  about  one  quarter  mile 
north  of  McCormick's  factory,  for  the  purpose 
of  adopting  resolutions  in  regard  to  their  de- 
mands, and  to  appoint  a  committee  to  wait 
upon  a  committee  of  lumber-yard  owners,  and 
I^resent  the  demands  which  had  been  agreed 
upon.  It  was  a  gigantic  mass  that  had  gath- 
ered. Several  members  of  the  Lumber- Yard 
Union  made  short  addresses  in  English,  Bo- 
hemian, German,  and  Polish.  Mr.  Fehling  at- 
tempted to  speak,  but  when  the  crowd  learned 
that  he  was  a  socialist,  he  was  stoned,  and  com- 
pelled to  leave  the  improvised  speakers'  stand 
on  a  freight-car.  Then,  after  a  few  more  ad- 
dresses were  made,  the  president  introduced 
Mr.  August  Spies,  who  had  been  invited  as  a 
speaker.  A  Pole  or  Bohemian  cried  out : '  That 
is  a  socialist,'  and  again  there  arose  a  storm 
of  disapprobation,  and  a  roaring  noise,  which 
proved  sufficiently  that  these  ignorant  people 
had  been  incited  against  the  socialists  by  their 
priests.  But  the  speaker  did  not  lose  his  pres- 
ence of  mind.  He  continued  speaking,  and 
very  soon  the  utmost  quiet  prevailed.  He  told 
them  that  they  must  realize  their  strength  over 
against  a  little  handful  of  lumber-yard  owners : 
that  theymustnotrecede  from  thedemandsonce 
made  by  them.  The  issue  lay  in  their  hands. 
All  they  needed  was  resolution,  and  the  '  bosses ' 
would  be  compelled  to,  and  would  give  in. 

"  At  this  moment  some  persons  in  the  back- 
ground cried  out  (either  in  Polish  or  Bohemian), 
'  Onto  McCormick's.  Let  us  drive  off  the  scabs.' 
About  two  hundred  men  left  the  crowd,  and  ran 
toward  McCormick's.  The  speaker  did  not 
know  what  was  the  matter,  and  continued  his 
speech.  When  he  had  finished,  he  was  ap- 
pointed a  member  of  a  committee  to  notify  the 
*  bosses '  that  the  strikers  had  no  concessions  to 
make.  Then  a  Pole  spoke.  While  he  spoke,  a 
patrol-wagon  rushed  up  toward  McCormick's. 
The  crowd  began  to  break  up.  In  about  three 
minutes  several  shots  were  heard  near  Mc- 
Cormick's factory,  and  these  were  followed  by 
others.  At  the  same  time,  about  seventy-five 
well-fed,  large,  and  strong  murderers,  under 
the  command  of  a  fat  police  lieutenant,  were 
marching  toward  the  factory,  and  on  their  heels 
folio  wed  threepatrol-wagons  besides,  full  of  law- 
and-order  beasts.  Two  hundred  poHcemen  were 
on  the  spot  in  less  than  ten  or  fifteen  minutes, 
and  the  firing  on  fleeing  workingmen  and  wo- 
men resembled  a  promiscuous  bush-hunt.  The 
writer  of  this  hastened  to  the  factory  as  soon 
as  the  first  shots  were  fired,  and  a  comrade 
urged  the  assembly  to  hasten  to  the  rescue  of 
Vol,  XLV.—  108-109. 


their  brothers  who  were  being  murdered,  but 
no  one  stirred.  '  What  do  we  care  for  that  ?  ' 
was  the  stupid  answer  of  poltroons  brought 
up  in  cowardice.  The  writer  fell  in  with  a 
young  Irishman  who  knew  him.  '  What  mis- 
erable   are  those  ? '  he  shouted  to  him, '  who 

will  not  turn  a  hand  while  their  brothers  gre 
being  shot  down  in  cold  blood  ?  We  have 
dragged  away  two ;  I  think  they  are  dead.  If 
you  have  any  influence  with  the  people,  for 
Heaven's  sake,  run  back  and  urge  them  to  fol- 
low you.'  The  writer  ran  back.  He  implored 
the  people  to  come  along, — those  who  had  re- 
volvers in  their  pockets, — but  it  was  in  vain. 
With  an  cxasperatingindifference,  they  put  their 
hands  in  their  pockets  and  marched  home, 
babbling  as  if  the  whole  affair  did  not  concern 
them  in  the  least.  The  revolvers  were  still  crack- 
ing, and  fresh  detachments  of  police,  here  and 
there  bombarded  with  stones,  were  hastening 
to  the  battle-ground.    The  battle  was  lost. 

"  It  was  in  the  neighborhood  of  half-past 
three  o'clock  when  the  little  crowd  of  between 
two  and  three  hundred  men  reached  McCor- 
mick's factory.  Policeman  West  tried  to  hold 
them  back  with  his  revolver.  A  shower  of  stones 
for  an  answer  put  him  to  flight.  He  was  so 
roughly  handled  that  he  was  afterward  found 
about  one  hundred  paces  from  the  place,  half 
dead,  and  groaning  fearfully.  The  small  crowd 
shouted, '  Get  out,  you  d d  scabs,  you  miser- 
able traitors,'  and  bombarded  the  factory  with 
stones.  The  little  guard-house  was  demolished. 
The  '  scabs '  were  in  mortal  terror,  when  at  this 
moment  the  Hinman  street  patrol-wagon,  sum- 
moned by  telephone,  came  rattling  along  with 
thirteen  murderers.  When  they  were  about  to 
make  an  immediate  attack  with  their  clubs,  they 
were  received  with  a  shower  of  stones.  '  Back ! 
disperse!'  cried  the  lieutenant,  and  the  next 
minute  there  was  a  report.  The  gang  had  fired 
on  the  strikers.  They  pretend,  subsequently, 
that  they  shot  over  their  heads.  But  be  that  as 
it  may,  a  few  of  the  strikers  had  litde  snappers 
of  revolvers,  and  with  these  returned  the  fire. 
In  the  mean  time  other  detachments  had  ar- 
rived, and  the  whole  band  of  murderers  now 
opened  fire  on  the  little  company, —  20,000  as 
estimated  by  the  police  organ,  the  '  Herald,'  — 
while  the  whole  assembly  scarcely  numbered 
8000  !  Such  lies  are  told.  With  their  weapons, 
mainly  stones,  the  people  fought  with  admira- 
ble bravery.  They  laid  out  half  a  dozen  blue- 
coats;  and  their  round  bellies — developed  to 
extreme  fatness  in  idleness  and  luxury — tum- 
bled about,  groaning  on  the  ground.  Four  of 
the  fellows  are  said  to  be  very  dangerously 
wounded ;  many  others,  alas  !  escaped  with 
lighter  injuries  (the  gang,  of  course,  conceals 
this,  just  as  in  '77  they  carefully  concealed  the 
number  of  those  who  were  made  to  bite  the 


826 


THE    CHICAGO  ANARCHISTS   OF  1886. 


dust).  But  it  looked  worse 
on  the  side  of  the  defense- 
less workmen.  Dozens  who 
had  received  sHght  shot- 
wounds  hastened  away, 
amid  the  bullets  which  were 
sent  after  them.  The  gang, 
as  always,  fired  upon  the 
fleeing,  while  women  and 
men  carried  away  the  se- 
verely wounded.  How 
many  were  really  injured, 
and  how  many  were  mor- 
tally wounded,  could  not  be 
determined  with  certainty, 
but  we  think  we  are  not 
mistaken  when  we  place 
the  number  of  mortally 
wounded  at  about  six,  and 
those  slightly  injured  at 
two  dozen.  We  know  of 
four;  one  of  whom  was 
shot  in  the  spleen,  another 
in  the  forehead,  another  in 
the  breast,  and  another 
in  the  thigh.  A  dying 
boy,  Joseph  Doedick,  was 
brought  home  on  an  ex- 
press-wagon by  two  police- 
men. The  people  did  not 
see  the  dying  boy.  They 
only  saw  the  two  murder- 
ers. '  Lynch  the  rascals,' 
clamored  the  crowd.  The 
fellows  wanted  to  break 
and  hide  themselves,  but 
in  vain.  They  had  already 
thrown  a  rope  around  the 
neck  of  one  of  them,  when 
a  patrol-wagon  rattled  into 
the  midst  of  the  crowd, 
and  prevented  the  praise- 
worthy deed.  Joseph  Hess,whohad  put  the  rope 
around  his  neck,  was  arrested.  The  'scabs' 
were  afterward  conducted,  under  the  protection 
of  a  strong  escort,  down  Blue  Island  Avenue. 
Women  and  children  gave  vent  to  their  indig- 
nation in  angry  shouts;  rotten  eggs  whizzed 
through  the  air.  The  men  about  took  things 
coolly,  and  smoked  their  pipes  as  on  Kirmes 
Day.  McCormick's  assistant,  Superintendent 
C.  J.  Benly,  was  also  wounded,  and,  indeed, 
quite  severely. 

"The  following  strikers  were  arrested:  Ig- 
natz  Erban,  Frank  Kohling,  Joseph  Schuky, 
Thomas  Klafski,  John  Patolski,  Anton  Sevi- 
eski,  Albert  Supitar,  Hugh  McWhiffer,  Anton 
Sternack,  Nick  Wolna,  and  Thomas  O'Con- 
nell.  The  '  pimp  '  McCormick,  when  asked 
what  he  thought  of  it,  said:  'August  Spies 
made  a  speech  to  a  few  thousand  anarchists. 


Attention  Workingmen! 


:0-XlXlJ^Vs~ 


MASS-MEETING 

TO-NIGHT,  at  7.30  o'clock, 

HAmiET,  Baiiii,  Bet,  jjaines  bdiI  flalstel 

Good  Speakers  will  be  present  to  denoiince  the    latest 

atrocious  act  of  the  police,  the  shooting  of  our 

feUow-workmen  yesterday  afternoon. 

Workingmen  Arm  Yourselves  and  Appear  in  Full  Force! 

TEE  EXECUTIVE  COMMITTEE 


^(But^  Stfbttrr  toerbm  bm  neue^it  ©(^urfenftrricb  W  ^Coliia 
w»I^  f«  seft^  9ja4>tmtta9  unfere  IBruScr  crfd^oj  geiSeliV 


AN    ANARCHIST     HANDBILL. 


It  occurred  to  one  of  these  brilliant  heads  to 
frighten  our  men  away.  He  put  himself  at  the 
head  of  a  crowd,  which  then  made  an  attack 
upon  our  works.  Our  workmen  fled,  and  in 
the  mean  time  the  police  came,  and  sent  a  lot 
of  anarchists  away  with  bleeding  heads.' 

"  Last  night  thousands  of  copies  of  the  fol- 
lowing circular  were  distributed  in  all  parts  of 
the  city:  'Revenge!  Revenge!  Workmen, 
TO  Arms  !  Men  of  labor,  this  afternoon  the 
bloodhounds  of  your  oppressors  murdered 
six  of  your  brothers  at  McCormick's !  Why 
did  they  murder  them  ?  Because  they  dared 
to  be  dissatisfied  with  the  lot  which  your  op- 
pressors have  assigned  to  them.  They  de- 
manded bread,  and  they  gave  them  lead  for 
an  answer,  mindful  of  the  fact  that  thus  people 
are  most  effectually  silenced.  You  have  for 
many,  many  years  endured  every  humiliation 


THE   CHICAGO  ANARCHISTS   OF  1886. 


827 


without  protest ;  have  drudged  from  early  in 
the  morning  till  late  at  night;  have  suffered 
all  sorts  of  privations ;  have  even  sacrificed 
your  children.  You  have  done  everything  to 
fill  the  coffers  of  your  masters  —  everything 
for  them  ;  and  now  when  you  approach  them, 
and  implore  them  to  make  your  burden  a 
little  lighter,  as  a  reward  for  your  sacrifices, 
they  send  their  bloodhounds,  the  police,  at 
you,  in  order  to  cure  you  with  bullets  of  your 
dissatisfaction.  Slaves,  we  ask  and  conjure 
you,  by  all  that  is  sacred  and  dear  to  you, 
avenge  the  atrocious  murder  which  has  been 
committed  upon  your  brothers  to-day,  and 
which  will  likely  be  committed  upon  you  to- 
morrow. Laboring  men,  Hercules,  you  have 
arrived  at  the  crossway.  Which  way  will  you 
decide  ?  For  slavery  and  hunger,  or  for  free- 
dom and  bread  ?  If  you  decide  upon  the  lat- 
ter, then  do  not  delay  a  moment ;  then  people 
to  arms  !  Annihilation  to  the  beasts  in  human 
form  who  call  themselves  rulers;  uncompro- 
mising annihilation  to  them !  This  must  be  your 
motto.  Think  of  the  heroes  whose  blood  has 
fertilized  the  road  to  progress,  liberty  and 
humanity,  and  strive  to  become  worthy  of 
them.  'Your  Brothers.'" 

The  circular  contained  upon  the  same  sheet 
an  English  version,  written  (except  the  word 
"  revenge  ")  by  Spies,  as  follows : 

"  Revenge  !  Workingmen  to  Arms  ! 
The  masters  sent  out  their  bloodhounds,  the 
police.  They  killed  six  of  your  brothers  at 
McCormick's  this  afternoon.  They  killed  the 
poor  wretches  because  they,  like  you,  had  the 
courage  to  disobey  the  supreme  will  of  your 
bosses.  They  killed  them  because  they  dared 
ask  for  the  shortening  of  the  hours  of  toil. 
They  killed  them  to  show  you, '  free '  American 
citizens,  that  you  must  be  satisfied  and  con- 
tented with  whatever  your  bosses  allow  you, 
or  you  will  get  killed.  You  have  for  years 
endured  the  most  abject  humihation ;  you 
have  for  years  suffered  unmeasurable  iniqui- 
ties ;  you  have  worked  yourself  to  death ;  you 
have  borne  the  pangs  of  want  and  hunger ; 
your  children  you  have  sacrificed  to  the  fac- 
tory lord ;  in  short,  you  have  been  miserable 
and  obedient  servants  all  these  years.  Why  ? 
To  satisfy  the  insatiable  greed,  to  fill  the  cof- 
fers of  your  lazy,  thieving  masters.  When  you 
ask  them  now  to  lessen  your  burdens,  he 
sends  his  bloodhounds  out  to  shoot  you  —  to 
kill  you !  If  you  are  men,  if  you  are  the  sons 
of  your  grandsires,  who  have  shed  their  blood 
to  free  you,  then  you  will  rise  in  your  might, 
Hercules,  and  destroy  the  hideous  monster 
that  seeks  to  destroy  you.  To  arms  !  We  call 
you  to  arms!  "Your  Brothers." 

I  must  interrupt  my  narrative  to  call  attention 
to  the  fact  that,  even  as  Spies  related  the  events 


at  McCormick's,  the  disturbances  began  by 
rioters  attacking  peaceable  laborers;  that  a  sin- 
gle policeman  who  endeavored  to  protect  them 
was  overpowered,  disabled,  and  seriously  in- 
jured, before  any  force  came  to  his  assistance  or 
rescue ;  and  that  this  resistance  to  rioters,  and 
protection  of  laborers,  was  the  great  wrong  to 
be  avenged  immediately.  But  it  was  no  new 
doctrine  with  him  that  "  strikers "  must  not 
be  stopped  in  assaults  upon  any  who  took  the 
places  they  had  left. 

In  the  "Arbeiter"  of  March  2,  1886,  was 
the  following  :  "  The  order  scoundrels  beamed 
yesterday  morning  in  their  full  glory.  With 
the  help  of  pickpockets,  the  natural  allies 
of  professional  cutthroats,  who  otherwise  call 
themselves  also  detectives,  they  succeeded  yes- 
terday in  taking  seventy  scabs  to  the  factory, 
accompanied  also  by  scoundrels  of  the  secret 
service,  to  give  a  better  appearance.  This  morn- 
ing the  number  of  scabs  which  went  back  to 
work  was  materially  increased.  At  this  oppor- 
tunity it  was  once  again  seen  for  what  purpose 
the  police  existed  —  to  protect  the  workingman 
if  he  works  for  starvation  wages,  and  is  an  obe- 
dient serf;  to  club  him  down  when  he  rebels 
against  the  capitalistic  herd  of  robbers.  Force 
only  gives  way  to  force.  Who  wants  to  attack 
capitalism  in  earnest  must  overthrow  the  body- 
guards of  it,  the  well-drilled  and  well-armed 
'  men  of  order,'  and  kill  them  if  he  does  not 
want  to  be  murdered  himself" 

If  ever  a  time  could  come  at  which  the  revo- 
lution could  be  started  in  Chicago,  it  would 
seem  that  it  was  that  fourth  day  of  May.  Forty 
thousand  men,  as  the  "  Arbeiter "  estimated 
the  day  before,  were  on  strike.  Fourteen  months 
before  that  time, as  "The  Alarm"  stated,  there 
were  eighty  groups  of  Internationals  in  the 
United  States,  and  the  efforts  to  increase  the 
number  had  been  unremitting.  If  Spies's  indig- 
nation was  real, — and  I  do  not  doubt  the  fa- 
naticism of  the  man,  nor  that  he  had  really 
persuaded  himself  that  the  cause  of  which  he 
and  his  companions  had  so  long  been  parti- 
zans,  and  which  had  probably  much  increased 
since  the  Thanksgiving  Day  and  the  Board  of 
Trade  demonstrations,  might  succeed, —  then 
certainly  the  great  body  of  equally  fanadcal 
and  much  less  intelligent  anarchists  could 
not  be  expected  ever  to  be  more  ready  than 
then  to  inaugurate  the  revolution.  "  Now  or 
never  "  Avas  Spies's  cry  two  days  before,  and 
the  riot  at  McCormick's  had  heated  all  their 
blood. 

On  that  fourth  day  of  May  Fischer  caused 
to  be  distributed  a  circular,  in  both  English 
and  German,  as  follows : 

"  Attention  Workingmen  !  Great  Mass- 
Meeting  to-night  at  7.30  o'clock,  at  the  Hay- 
market,  Randolph   St.,  bet.  Desplaines  and 


828 


THE   CHICAGO  ANARCHISTS   OF  1886. 


Halsted.  Good  speakers  will  be  present  to  de- 
nounce the  latest  atrocious  act  of  the  police, 
the  shooting  of  our  fellow-workmen  yesterday 
afternoon.  Workingmen  arm  yourselves  and 
appear  in  full  force  ! 

"The  Executive  Committee." 

After  some  of  them  (how  many  did  not  ap- 
pear) had  been  printed,  Spies  caused  the  words, 
"  Workingmen  arm  yourselves  and  appear  in 
full  force  "  to  be  stricken  out,  and  the  larger 
number,  some  twenty  thousand,  of  the  circu- 
lars actually  distributed  did  not  contain  those 
words.  As  a  witness  on  the  trial,  Spies  said  in 
relation  to  those  words  :  "  I  objected  to  that 
principally  because  I  thought  it  was  ridiculous 
to  put  a  phrase  in  which  would  prevent  people 
from  attending  the  meeting :  another  reason 
was  that  there  was  some  excitement  at  that 
time,  and  a  call  for  arms  like  that  might  have 
caused  trouble  between  the  police  and  the  at- 
tendants of  that  meeting." 

I  am  not  concerned  with  the  truth  of  that 
explanation.  While  there  is  abundant  evidence 
to  warrant  the  conclusion — the  irresistible  con- 
clusion, beyond  all  reasonable  doubt — that 
the  act  of  throwing  that  bomb  was  the  act  of 
some  one  of  the  many  conspirators  against  so- 
ciety and  social  order,  done,  in  the  language 
of  the  Supreme  Court  in  the  Brennan  case  be- 
fore cited,  "  in  the  prosecution  of  the  common 
object,"  and  therefore  all  the  conspirators  "are 
alike  guilty  of  the  homicide,"  yet  I  shall  en- 
deavor to  show  the  guilt  of  the  anarchists  on 
a  still  narrower  ground. 

That  narrower  ground  is  that  the  pubhca- 
tions  in  the  "  Arbeiter  "  and  "Alarm,"  and  the 
speeches  of  Spies,  Parsons,  Schwab,  Fielden, 
and  Engel  (whose  speeches  were  proved  at 
great  length  on  the  trial,  all  of  them  advising 
their  hearers  to  arm  themselves,  among  other 
things,  with  dynamite),  were  acts  in  furtherance 
of  the  design  and  piirpose  of  the  conspiracy,  by 
conspirators,  and  therefore  upon  legal prijiciples 
acts  of  the  whole  body  and  each  individical  of 
the  co-conspirators  ;  that  the  general  advice  given 
to  all  readers  and  hearers  was  advice  to  each 
and  every  individual  of  those  readers  and  hear- 
ers ;  that  advice  to  pursue  a  course  of  coJiduct 
embracing  or  including  a  particular  act  is  ad- 
vice to  do  that  act ;  that  it  is  inconceivable  that 
the  man  who  threw  a  bomb  made  by  Lingg,  one 
of  the  conspirators,  was  not  by  some  of  those 
publications  or  speeches  encouraged  so  to  do,  and 
therefore  the  tuhole  body  of  the  conspirators 
luere  accessories  to  the  act  of  throwing  it,  and  re- 
sponsible for  it,  whether  it  was  thrown  by  one 
who  was  himself  a  member  of  the  conspiracy,  or 
who  was  some  harebrained  fool,  or  some  crim- 
inal who  wished  to  avenge  himself  for  some 
grievance,  real  or  fancied,  that  he  had  suffered 
at  the  hands  of  the  police.   When  I  come  to 


what  the  counsel  for  the  defense  urged  at  the 
trial,  I  shall  recur  to  this  point,  and  endeavor 
to  illustrate  it. 

The  meeting  came.  It  was  held  not  in  the 
Haymarket  proper,  but  in  Desplaines  street, 
between  Randolph  street  and  Lake  street,  next 
north  of  Randolph.  Between  three  hundred 
and  four  hundred  feet  south  of  a  wagon  that 
was  used  as  a  stand  for  the  speakers  was  a 
police  station,  on  Desplaines  street,  at  which 
a  large  force  was  concentrated.  Spies  spoke 
first.  In  a  shorthand  report  ofpart  of  his  speech, 
proved  at  the  trial,  is  this :  "  It  is  said  that  I 
inspired  the  attack  on  McCormick's.  That  is 
a  lie.  The  fight  is  going  on ;  now  is  the  chance 
to  strike  for  the  existence  of  the  oppressed 
classes.  The  oppressors  want  us  to  be  content; 
they  will  kill  us.  The  thought  of  liberty  which 
inspired  your  sires  to  fight  for  their  freedom 
ought  to  animate  you  to-day.  The  day  is  not 
far  distant  when  we  will  resort  to  hanging  these 
men.  [Applause,  and  cries  of  '  Hang  them 
now!']  McCormick  is  the  man  who  created 
the  row  Monday,  and  he  must  be  held  respon- 
sible for  the  murder  of  our  brothers.  [Cries  of 
'  Hang  him!']  Don't  make  any  threats;  they 
are  of  no  avail;  when  you  get  ready  to  do 
something,  do  it  and  don't  make  any  threats 
beforehand." 

Parsons  spoke  next.  The  following  is  from 
the  shorthand  report  ofpart  of  his  speech :  "  It 
behooves  you,  as  you  love  your  wife  and  chil- 
dren— if  you  don't  want  to  see  them  perish 
with  hunger,  killed  or  cut  down  like  dogs  on 
the  street, — Americans,  in  the  interest  of  your 
liberty  and  your  independence,  to  arm,  arm 
yourselves." 

With  some  other  context  (but  what  it  was 
the  witnesses  could  not  tell),  one  witness  for  the 
State  and  one  for  the  defense  testified  that  Par- 
sons in  the  same  speech  also  said,  "  To  arms ! 
To  arms!    To  arms!  " 

The  latter  part  of  the  speech  of  Fielden, 
who  spoke  after  Parsons,  was  reported  in  short- 
hand as  follows :  "  There  are  premonitions  of 
danger.  All  knew.  The  press  say  the  anar- 
chists Avill  sneak  away ;  we  are  not  going  to.  If 
we  continue  to  be  robbed,  it  will  not  be  long  be- 
fore we  will  be  murdered.  There  is  no  security 
for  the  working-classes  under  the  present  social 
system.  A  few  individuals  control  the  means  of 
hving,  and  holding  the  workingmen  in  a  vise. 
Everybody  does  not  know.  Those  who  know  it 
are  tired  of  it,  and  know  the  others  will  get  tired 
of  it,  too.  They  are  determined  to  end  it,  and 
will  end  it,  and  there  is  no  power  in  the  land  that 
will  prevent  them.  Congressman  Foran  said: 
'  The  laborer  can  get  nothing  from  legislation.' 
He  also  said  that  the  laborers  can  get  some  relief 
from  their  present  condition  when  the  rich  man 
knew  it  was  unsafe  for  him  to  live  in  a  com- 


THE   CHICAGO  ANARCHISTS   OF  1886. 


829 


munity  where  there  were  dissatisfied  working- 
men,  for  they  would  solve  the  labor  problem. 
I  don't  know  whether  you  are  Democrats 
or  Republicans,  but  whichever  you  are,  you 
worship  at  the  shrine  of  rebels.  John  Brown, 
Jefferson,  Washington,  Patrick  Henry,  and 
Hopkins  said  to  the  people :  '  The  law  is  your 
enemy.  We  are  rebels  against  it.'  The  law  is 
only  framed  for  those  that  are  your  enslavers. 
[A  voice  :  '  That  is  true.']  Men  in  their  bhnd 
rage  attacked  McCormick's  factory,  and  were 
shot  down  by  the  law  in  cold  blood  in  the  city 
of  Chicago,  in  the  protection  of  property. 
These  men  were  going  to  do  some  damage  to 
a  certain  person's  interest,  who  was  a  large 
property- owner ;  therefore  the  law  came  to  his 
defense.  And  when  McCormick  undertook  to 
do  some  injury  to  the  interest  of  those  who  had 
no  property,  the  law  also  came  to  his  defense, 
and  not  to  the  workingman's  defense,  when 
he,  Mr.  McCormick,  attacked  him  and  his  liv- 
ing. [Cries  of  '  No.']  There  is  the  difterence. 
The  law  makes  no  distinction.  A  miUion  men 
own  all  the  property  in  this  country  The  law 
has  no  use  for  the  other  fifty-four  million.  [A 
voice,  '■  Right  enough.']  You  have  nothing 
more  to  do  with  the  law  except  to  lay  hands 
on  it,  and  throttle  it  until  it  makes  its  last  kick. 
It  turns  your  brothers  out  on  the  wayside,  and 
has  degraded  them  until  they  have  lost  the  last 
vestige  of  humanity,  and  they  are  mere  things 
and  animals.  Keep  your  eye  upon  it.  Throt- 
tle it.  Kill  it.  Stab  it.  Do  everything  you  can  to 
wound  it,  to  impede  its  progress.  Remember, 
before  trusting  them  to  do  anything  for  your- 
self, prepare  to  do  it  for  yourself.  Don't  turn 
over  your  business  to  anybody  else.  No  man 
deserves  anything  unless  he  is  man  enough  to 
make  an  eftbrt  to  lift  himself  from  oppression. 
Is  it  not  a  fact  that  we  have  no  choice  as  to 
our  existence,  for  we  can't  dictate  what  our 
labor  is  worth  ?  He  that  has  to  obey  the  will 
of  any  is  a  slave.  Can  we  do  anything  except 
by  the  strong  arm  of  resistance  ?  Socialists  are 
not  going  to  declare  war ;  but  I  tell  you,  war 
has  been  declared  upon  us,  and  I  ask  you  to 
get  hold  of  anything  that  will  help  to  resist 
the  onslaught  of  the  enemy  and  the  usurper. 
The  skirmish-lines  have  met.  People  have  been 
shot.  Men,  women,  and  children  have  not 
been  spared  by  the  capitalists  and  minions  of 
private  capital.  It  had  no  mercy,  so  ought 
you.  You  are  called  upon  to  defend  your- 
selves, your  lives,  your  future.  What  matters 
it  whether  you  kill  yourselves  with  work  to  get 
a  little  relief,  or  die  on  the  battle-field  resisting 
the  enemy  ?  What  is  the  difference  ?  Any 
animal,  however  loathsome,  will  resist  when 
stepped  upon.  Are  men  less  than  snails  and 
worms  ?  I  have  some  resistance  in  me ;  I 
know  that  you  have,   too.    You  have   been 


robbed,  and  you  will  be  starved  into  a  worse 
condition." 

At  this  point  a  hundred  and  eighty  police- 
men, from  the  station  before  mentioned,  march- 
ing in  platoons,  led  by  Inspector  John  Bonfield 
and  Captain  William  Ward,  halted  a  few  feet 
from  the  wagon  from  which  the  speeches  were 
made,  and  Captain  Ward  in  a  loud  voice  said : 
"  I  command  you,  in  the  name  of  the  People 
of  the  State  of  Illinois,  to  immediately  and 
peaceably  disperse." 

This  action  of  the  police  was  in  strict  accor- 
dance with  the  law  of  the  State.  Section  253, 
Chapter  38,  Revised  Statutes,  provides  that 
"  when  twelve  or  more  persons,  any  of  them 
armed  with  clubs  or  dangerous  weapons,  or 
thirty  or  more,  armed  or  unarmed,  are  unlaw- 
fully, riotously,  or  tumultuously  assembled  in 
any  city,  ...  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  each  of 
the  municipal  officers  ...  to  go  among  the 
persons  so  assembled  .  .  .  and  in  the  name 
of  the  State  command  them  immediately  to  dis- 
perse." A  crowd  of  people,  variously  estimated 
by  different  witnesses  at  from  eight  hundred 
to  two  thousand,  filled  a  public  street  of  the 
city  after  ten  o'clock  at  night.  They  were  listen- 
ing to,  and  shouting  their  approval  of,  speeches 
urging  them,  in  language  the  most  exciting, 
and  with  arguments  the  most  persuasive  that 
the  speakers  knew  how  to  use,  to  violence  and 
bloodshed.  It  is  utterly  without  foundation  for 
anarchists  or  their  sympathizers  to  urge  that 
the  throwing  of  that  bomb  was  an  act  of  self- 
defense.  No  attack  was  made  by  the  police. 
The  same  section  last  cited  makes  the  refusal 
to  obey  the  command  to  disperse  punishable 
by  fine  and  imprisonment. 

Fielden  replied  to  Captain  Ward,  "  We  are 
peaceable,"  and  at  once  the  bomb  thrown  from 
a  point  on  the  east  sidewalk  near  to,  and  a  ht- 
tle  south  of,  the  wagon,  with  the  lighted  fuse 
making  a  shining  trail  in  the  night  air,  fell  and 
exploded  among  the  policemen,  and  wounded 
sixty-six  of  them,  of  whom  seven  died  of  their 
wounds.  Degan  was  the  first  who  died.  No 
soldiers  ever  carried  to  a  battle-field  greater 
courage  or  better  discipline  than  that  band  of 
policemen  then  displayed.  The  sound  of  the 
explosion  was  deafening.  One  third  of  their 
number  was  down.  That  other  bombs  were  to 
follow  was  to  be  expected.  But  to  the  com- 
mand, "  Fall  in ;  close  up,"  every  man  of  them 
not  disabled  gave  prompt  obedience. 

Pieces  of  the  bomb  were  extracted  from  some 
of  the  victims,  and  chemically  analyzed.  A  nut 
entered  the  person  of  a  bystander.  That  nut, 
and  the  shape  of  the  pieces  of  the  bomb,  as  well  as 
the  analysis,  so  strictly  conformed  to  "  globu- 
lar "  bombs  found  in  Lingg's  room,  and  which  it 
was  proved  he  made,  that  there  is  no  reasonable 
doubt  that  the  exploded  bomb  was  his  produc- 


830 


THE    CHICAGO  ANARCHISTS   OF  1886. 


tion.  All  that  afternoon,  with  several  assistants, 
all  Internationals,  he  had  been  filling  bombs, 
most  of  which  early  in  the  evening  were  taken 
to  a  beer-saloon,  from  which  place  they  were 
distributed.  All  the  regular  meeting-places  of 
the  Internationals,  except  the  office  of  the  "  Ar- 
beiter,"  were  beer-saloons  or  halls  adjoining 
them. 

A  few  words  only  as  to  the  defendants  other 
than  Spies  and  Parsons.  Schwab,  as  has  been 
said,  was  one  of  the  editors  of  the  "  Arbeiter," 
and  made  numerous  speeches  in  the  same  spirit, 
and  to  the  same  effect,  as  the  extracts  from  the 
paper  which  I  have  copied.  Fielden  was  a  small 
stockholder  in  "  The  Alarm,"  and  one  of  its  com- 
mittee of  management;  he  traveled  to  organize 
"  groups,"  and  made  numerous  speeches  in  Chi- 
cago calling  upon  the  working-men  to  arm,  to 
learn  the  use  of  dynamite.  Fischer  and  Engel 
first  planned  the  Haymarket  meeting,  with 
some  loose  talk  of  a  committee  to  observe  what 
might  happen  there,  and  if  a  conflict  came,  to 
report;  but  nothing  very  definite  was  arranged. 
Fischer  was  a  stockholder  in  the  "Arbeiter,"  and 
foreman  of  its  press-room,  and  Engel  assisted 
in  starting  another  paper  called  the  "Anar- 
chist," the  reason  for  starting  it,  as  he  said, 
being  that  the  "Arbeiter"  was  not  radical 
enough.  He  also  made  speeches  advocating 
arming,  and  instructing  how  to  make  bombs. 
Neebe  was  a  stockholder  in  the  "Arbeiter,"  and 
took  charge  of  the  property  on  May  5,  1886, 
after  Spies  and  Schwab  were  arrested.  He  dis- 
tributed some  of  the  "  Revenge  "  circulars.  All 
of  the  defendants  were  members  of  groups  of  the 
Internationals,  as  has  already  been  stated,  and 
took  part  in  meetings  of  the  groups,  and  in  gen- 
eral meetings  of  the  Internationals. 

The  mere  fact  that  the  defendants  were  mem- 
bers of  the  Internationals,  more  or  less  active 
in  the  organization,  even  though  their  action 
was  confined  to  meetings  of  the  groups,  of  itself 
made  them  co-conspirators  with  the  more  active 
members  who  worked  publicly.  The  Interna- 
tional was  a  combination  (the  technical  legal 
term  for  which  is  conspiracy)  to  overturn  all 
government  by  force.  Whoever  took  part  in 
that  combination  was  a  conspirator. 

In  selecting  from  the  great  bulk  of  printed 
matter  issued  or  circulated  by  the  anarchists, 
and  proved  at  the  trial,  I  have  been  embar- 
rassed in  determining  where  to  stop.  If  any 
reader  wishes  to  see  more  of  it,  he  may  turn  to 
the  report  of  the  case  in  the  Supreme  Court  in 
the  volumes  to  which  I  have  referred;  and  if  not 
then  content,  the  history  of  the  trial,  prepared 
by  the  counsel  for  the  defendants,  in  order  to 
have  the  case  reviewed  by  the  Supreme  Court, 
is  on  file  in  the  Criminal  Court  of  Cook  County, 
and  a  copy  thereof  is  among  the  records  of  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  State  of  Illinois,  and  he 


can  there  read  ten,  twenty,  fifty  times  as  much 
as  I  present,  of  the  same  sort. 

I  protest  that  in  copying  these  fierce  de- 
nunciations, these  recitals  of  alleged  tyranny 
and  oppression,  these  seemingly  pitying  de- 
scriptions of  the  hardships  and  wrongs  of  the 
humble  and  the  poor,  written  with  apparent  sin- 
cerity and  real  intellectual  ability,  I  have  oc- 
casionally almost  lost  sight  of  the  atrocity  of 
the  advice  given  by  the  anarchists,  and  felt  a 
sort  of  sympathy  with  the  writers  who  would 
have  praised  my  assassination  as  a  virtuous 
act.  And  the  active  leaders  were  men  who 
fascinated,  apparently^  those  with  whom  they 
came  in  contact.  To  some  extent  they  im- 
bued their  counsel  with  the  notion  that  they 
had  been  engaged  in  a  worthy  cause.  To  show 
this,  I  shall  quote  from  speeches  on  the  trial 
and  at  their  graves.  Men  and  women  of  a  high 
order  of  intelligence,  of  pure  lives,  amiable  in 
their  own  dispositions,  seemed  under  a  spell  to 
them.  And  these  denunciations,  these  recitals, 
these  descriptions,  as  well  as  almost  countless 
speeches  of  the  same  character,  burning  from 
the  lips  of  no  mean  orators,  were  addressed  to 
the  people  whose  sufferings  they  professed  to 
depict;  people  who,  in  fact,  did  not  share  in  the 
luxuries,  and  were  not  able  to  participate  in 
many  of  the  comforts,  of  life  which  they  saw 
around  them ;  people  of  whom  Spies  testified 
that  they  were  "  stupid  and  ignorant ";  all  pre- 
pared to  believe  that  anarchy  offered  a  heroic 
remedy  for  the  inequalities  of  life,  the  evils  of 
which,  real  or  fancied,  fell  upon  them.  Who 
can  estimate  the  effect  ?  The  wonder  is  that  a 
tragedy  was  so  long  delayed. 

All  lawyers,  courts,  text- writers,  even  the  coun- 
sel of  the  anarchists,  as  I  will  show  later,  agree 
that  the  act  of  one  conspirator  is  the  act  of  each 
of  his  co-conspirators,  even  when  the  particular 
act  has  not  been  agreed  upon  by  them,  but  is 
done  in  the  exercise  of  the  actor's  own  discre- 
tion, for  the  accomplishment  of  the  common 
purpose.  When  a  conspiracy  is  mentioned,  the 
popular  idea  is  of  a  midnight  gathering,  masked 
faces,  low  voices,  passwords,  and  the  utmost 
secrecy.  To  this  idea  Mr.  Zeisler,  in  his  argu- 
ment to  the  jury,  referred :  "  What  is  a  con- 
spiracy ?  What  were  you  used  to  understand 
by  the  word  conspiracy  ?  Is  n't,  in  the  first  place, 
secrecy  the  test  of  a  conspiracy  ?  Was  there 
anything  secret  about  the  doings  of  these  men, 
or  about  their  teachings  and  writings  ?  " 

Secrecy  is  not  essential  to  a  conspiracy,  which 
is  simply  "  a  combination  of  two  or  more  per- 
sons, by  some  concerted  action,  to  accomplish 
some  criminal  or  unlawful  purpose ;  or  to  ac- 
complish some  purpose,  not  in  itself  criminal 
or  unlawful,  by  criminal  or  unlawful  means  " 
(3  Greenleaf,  Evidence,  Sec.  89). 

It  is  probably  true  that  Rudolph  Schnau- 


THE    CHICAGO   ANARCHISTS   OF  1886. 


831 


belt  threw  the  bomb.  He  was  twice  arrested, 
but,  having  shaved  off  a  full  beard  immedi- 
ately after  that  fatal  night,  was  discharged. 
After  the  second  arrest  he  disappeared,  and 
has  gone  to  parts  unknown.  But  whether 
Schnaubelt  or  some  other  person  threw  the 
bomb,  is  not  an  important  question.  The 
great  effort  of  the  defendants'  counsel  on  the 
trial  —  and  it  began  on  the  first  day  of  the 
putting  in  of  the  evidence  —  was  to  estabhsh 
their  position,  that  each  separate  meeting  of 
any  of  the  defendants  was,  if  there  was  any 
conspiracy  in  the  case,  a  separate  conspiracy, 
for  which  only  those  who  participated  know- 
ingly in  any  illegal  act  at  such  meeting,  or  had 
advised  that  particular  act,  were  responsible. 
For  example,  Mr.  Grinnell,in  his  opening  state- 
ment to  the  jury  of  what  the  State  expected  to 
prove,  had  referred  to  the  contents  of  the  "  Ar- 
beiter  "  and  "  The  Alarm."  A  witness  named 
Waller, who  had  received  a  bomb  from  Fischer, 
was  on  the  stand.  I  now  quote  from  the  Chicago 
"Tribune"  of  July  17,  1886,  reporting  the 
proceedings  of  the  trial  on  the  day  before : 
"'  Mr.  Waller,'  asked  Mr.  Ingham,  'did  you 
ever  receive  any  bombs  from  anybody  ? ' 
This  question  was  objected  to  by  Mr.  Foster, 
who  arose  and  made  a  speech  in  which  he 
claimed  that  this  line  of  evidence  was  entirely 
immaterial.  He  said  that  testimony  could 
have  no  possible  bearing  on  the  case  unless 
the  prosecution  intended  to  trace  the  deadly 
bomb  that  was  used  on  Haymarket  Square 
into  the  hands  of  the  man  who  threw  it.  The 
existence  of  a  general  conspiracy  to  kill  the 
police  and  destroy  property  had  no  connec- 
tion with  the  case,  unless  it  was  shown  that 
there  was  a  conspiracy  to  do  the  deed  that 
was  done  on  Haymarket  Square.  The  con- 
spiracy might  have  existed.  Then  let  the 
grand  jury  indict  the  defendants  for  conspir- 
acy. But  there  was  no  murder  unless  it  was 
shown  that  the  defendants  killed  Officer  Be- 
gan. The  commission  of  a  crime  by  some- 
body unknown  to  them,  and  without  their 
knowledge  or  sanction,  could  not  be  laid  to 
them.  The  connection  of  the  defendants  with 
the  specific  act  must  be  shown. 

"  Mr.  Ingham  replied :  '  It  is  true  that 
eight  Hves  are  at  stake,  but  organized  govern- 
ment is  also  at  stake.  We  propose  to  show 
that  for  one,  two,  or  three  years,  right  in  this 
city,  a  gigantic  conspiracy  has  been  in  force 
and  operation;  a  conspiracy  of  which  these 
eight  men  were  the  leaders.  We  expect  to 
show  that  these  men  have  for  months  and 
years  preached  a  doctrine  of  open  revolution 
and  recourse  to  arms.  They  intended  to  be 
guilty  of  revolution  May  i.  For  weeks  and 
months  previously  they  were  preparing  for 
this  revolution.  We  expect  to  bring  into  court 


dynamite  bombs  by  the  dozen,  and  until  the 
dozens  run  up  into  barrels.  No  bomb  which 
we  shall  trace  to  these  defendants  could  have 
any  possible  legitimate  purpose.  We  shall 
show  by  men  of  science  that  dynamite  bombs 
cannot  be  used  for  anything  else  but  for 
cowardly  and  atrocious  murder.  If  we  can 
show  that  this  bomb-throwing  was  the  result 
of  this  general  conspiracy,  one  of  the  most 
powerful  links  in  that  chain  of  evidence  is  the 
fact  that  these  men  at  all  times  had  in  their 
possession,  and  were  distributing  to  others, 
these  bombs.  We  expect  to  show  that  this 
man  had  in  possession  a  number  of  bombs, 
filled  with  dynamite,  which  he  obtained  from 
the  defendant  Fischer,  and  that  Fischer  was 
months  ago  arming  himself  for  the  purpose  of 
destroying  property  and  for  murder.' 

"  Mr.  Foster  :  '  Suppose  that  somebody, 
without  their  knowledge,  consent,  or  appro- 
val, threw  the  bomb ;  are  these  men  guilty  of 
murder  ? ' 

"  Mr.  Ingham :  '  We  can  show  that  each 
one  of  these  men  was  part  of  the  general  con- 
spiracy to  overthrow  pubhc  authority,  to  an- 
nihilate the  police  force,  the  banks  and  the 
public  offices.  As  a  result  of  this  general 
conspiracy  this  bomb  was  thrown.  They  can- 
not look  the  law  in  the  face,  and  smile  and 
sneer  at  what  their  leader,  Herr  Most,  called 
the  farce  of  the  law.  The  law  of  the  State  of 
Illinois  is  strong  enough  to  hang  every  man 
of  them.' 

"  Mr.  Foster :  '  I  have  always  failed  to  see 
why  editorials  in  the  "Arbeiter  Zeitung," 
speeches  at  meetings,  and  newspaper  reports 
can  be  involved  in  this  case.  I  object  to  a 
conviction  upon  a  general  conspiracy,  which 
would  be  a  conviction  on  general  principles. 
If  I  and  the  other  counsel  in  this  case  con- 
spire to  rob  Brother  Ingham  of  his  purse 
when  he  goes  home  to-night,  and  the  one 
who  was  to  grab  him  by  the  throat  clutches 
him  too  tightly  and  strangles  him,  then  we  are 
guilty  of  murder.  But  if  we  embark  in  this 
conspiracy,  and  somebody  else,  at  another 
place,  murders  somebody,  are  we  to  be  held 
responsible  ?  ' 

"Judge  Gary's  decision  was  as  follows: 
'  If  it  is  agreed  to  use  violence  for  the  de- 
struction of  human  lives  upon  an  occasion 
which  is  not  yet  foreseen,  but  upon  some 
general  principle  on  which  the  conspirators 
substantially  agree;  for  example,  if  a  large 
number  of  men  agreed  to  kill  the  police  if 
they  were  found  in  conflict  with  the  strikers, 
leaving  the  date  to  the  agencies  of  time  to  de- 
termine; whenever  the  time  and  occasion  do 
come  for  the  use  of  that  violence,  and  when 
that  \aolence  is  used,  are  not  the  parties  who 
have  agreed  beforehand  to  use  the  means  of 


832 


THE   CHICAGO  ANARCHISTS   OF  1886. 


destruction  equally  guilty  ?  Suppose  that  there 
was  a  general  agreement  that  weapons  of 
death  should  be  used  if  the  police  got  into  a 
conflict  with  the  strikers ;  that  is,  if  the  pohce 
undertook  to  enforce  the  laws  of  the  State 
and  prevent  a  breach  of  the  peace  and  de- 
struction of  property  —  if  the  police  under- 
took to  do  so,  that  then  they  would  attack 
and  kill  the  police,  but  the  time  and  occasion 
of  the  attack  itself  were  not  foreseen ;  the 
time  and  occasion  being  to  be  determined  by 
the  parties  who  were  to  use  the  force  when  in 
their  judgment  the  time  and  occasion  were  to 
come;  and  then,  when  the  police  were  found  at- 
tempting to  preserve  the  peace,  some  persons 
who  have  been  parties  to  this  agreement 
do  kill  them,  are  not  all  of  these  persons 
equally  guilty  ?  If  there  was  a  general  com- 
bination and  agreement  among  a  great  num- 
ber of  individuals  to  kill  policemen  if  they 
came  into  conflict  with  parties  with  whom 
they  were  friendly — meetings  of  workingmen, 
and  bodies  of  strikers;  if  it  was  the  combina- 
tion and  agreement  to  kill  the  police  in  their 
attempts  to  preserve  the  peace ;  if  there  was 
such  a  combination  and  agreement  among  a 
great  number  of  men,  the  object  of  which  was 
something  beyond  mere  local  disturbance, 
whether  it  was  the  object  to  offer  a  new  form 
of  civil  society  or  not ;  if  there  was  such  an 
agreement  to  kill  the  police  upon  some  occa- 
sion that  might  occur  in  the  future,  whether  the 
proper  time  had  arrived  being  left  to  their  judg- 
ment, then  if  that  violence  was  used  and  re- 
sulted in  the  death  of  the  pohce,  then  those 
who  were  party  to  the  agreement  are  guilty 
of  the  death.  It  is  entirely  competent  for  the 
State  to  show  that  these  several  defendants 
have  had  such  missiles  in  their  possession  to 
be  used  on  occasions,  that  they  might  antici- 
pate. There  need  not  be  an  agreement  that 
they  should  be  used  on  this  specific  occasion, 
but  on  some  occasion  that  might  arise  in  the 
future.  Any  one  case  where  such  violence  was 
used  may  involve  the  showing  of  the  entire 
conspiracy  from  beginning  to  end.'  " 

I  shall  make  no  apology  for  my  disjointed 
language  and  repetitions,  as  above  quoted,  but 
take  refuge  in  the  reflection  that  the  opinions 
of  Lord  Eldon,  a  great,  if  not  the  greatest, 
EngHsh  chancellor,  have  been  characterized  as 
exhibiting  great  lucidity  of  thought  in  great 
turgidity  of  expression.  I  have  quoted  the  de- 
bate and  my  decision  from  the  paper  of  the 
day,  that  nobody  may  question  the  truth  of 
my  statement  as  to  the  theory,  cr  doctrine  of 
law,  on  which  the  case  was  tried.  The  an- 
archists tvere  not  tried  for  being  anarchists, 
but  for  procuring  murder  to  be  done,  and  being 
therefore  themselves  guilty  of  tmirder. 

When  the  evidence  on  the  side  of  the  prose- 


cution closed,  Mr.  Salomon  addressed  the  jury 
upon  the  evidence  already  in,  and  upon  what 
the  defense  expected  to  prove.  I  quote  a  few 
of  his  sentences:  "The  law  says,  no  matter 
whether  these  defendants  advised  generally 
the  use  of  dynamite  in  the  purpose  which  they 
claimed  to  carry  out,  and  sought  to  carry  out, 
yet  if  none  of  these  defendants  advised  the 
throwing  of  that  bomb  at  the  Haymarket,  they 
cannot  be  held  responsible  for  the  action  of 
others  at  other  times  and  other  places.  What 
does  the  evidence  introduced  here  tend  to 
show?  It  may  occur  to  some  of  you,  gentle- 
men, to  ask :  'What,  then,  can  these  defendants 
preach  the  use  of  dynamite  ?  May  they  be  al- 
lowed to  go  on  and  urge  people  to  overturn 
the  present  government  and  the  present  con- 
dition of  society  without  being  held  responsi- 
ble for  it,  and  without  punishment  ? '  .  .  .  Now, 
what  is  the  statute  on  conspiracy,  of  which 
these  defendants  may  be  guilty,  if  they  are 
guilty  of  anything?  .  .  .  Now  these  defen- 
dants are  not  criminals,  they  are  not  robbers, 
they  are  not  burglars,  they  are  not  common 
thieves;  they  descend  to  no  small  criminal 
act.  On  the  contrary,  this  evidence  shows  con- 
clusively that  they  are  men  of  broad  feelings 
of  humanity;  that  their  only  desire  has  been, 
and  their  lives  have  been  consecrated  to,  the 
betterment  of  their  fellow-men.  .  .  .  It  is  true 
that  they  have  adopted  means,  or  wanted  to 
adopt  means,  that  were  not  approved  of  by  all 
mankind.  It  is  true  that  their  methods  were 
dangerous,  perhaps;  but  then  they  should 
have  been  stopped  at  their  inception." 

It  probably  will  occur  to  the  reader  that 
the  "Arbeiter"  said  "there  would  have  been 
pieces"  if  they  had  been  stopped  at  the  Board 
of  Trade  demonstration,  and  that  in  fact  the 
police  were  murdered  at  the  first  real  attempt 
made  to  stop  them ;  but  probably  Mr.  Salomon 
meant  "  stopped  "  by  an  arrest  on  a  warrant 
for  conspiracy. 

That  puts  him  in  this  dilemma.  If  they 
were  engaged  in  anything  criminal,  it  was  a 
conspiracy  to  induce  people  to  resort  to  vio- 
lence; then  if  they  succeeded,  and  that  violence 
ended  in  murder,  who  is  guilty?  There  is 
nothing  criminal  in  a  combination  of  few  or 
many  to  induce  and  persuade  the  people  of 
the  United  States  to  change  our  form  of  gov- 
ernment to  a  monarchy,  or  to  abandon  all 
government  for  anarchy;  the  criminality  of 
the  anarchists  was  not  in  the  ultimate  end  they 
proposed,  but  in  the  means  by  which  they 
proposed  to  attain  it.  Those  means — by  vio- 
lence and  slaughter — changed  what  otherwise 
might  have  been  merely  a  faction  in  politics 
into  a  band  of  criminals.  They  became  con- 
spirators, and  for  the  consequences  of  their 
acts  as  such  responsible. 


THE   CHICAGO  ANARCHISTS   OF  1886. 


^33 


I  remember,  in  greater  detail  than  follows,  a 
part  of  Mr.  Foster's  speech  to  the  jury,  but 
shall  take  from  the  Chicago  "  Tribune "  of 
Sunday,  August  15,  this  report  of  what  Mr. 
Foster  said  the  day  before.  It  does  not  pur- 
port to  be  verbatim,  but  I  am  content  to  leave 
the  fairness  of  it  to  Mr,  Foster.  "  If  Mr.  Fos- 
ter should  advise  a  man  who  was  hard  up  to  go 
down  to  the  corner  of  Clark  and  Lake  streets, 
to  knock  down  and  rob  the  first  likely  looking 
man  that  came  along,  Mr.  Foster  would  not 
be  guilty  of  robbery ;  but  if  he  advised  a  man 
to  select  Mr.  Grinnell  as  the  victim,  and  Mr. 
Grinnell  should  be  killed  in  the  scuffle,  then 
Mr.  Foster  would  be  guilty ;  and  that  was  the 
position  of  the  defendants."  The  moral  of 
^sop's  fable  of  the  "  Trumpeter,"  "  He  that 
provokes  and  incites  mischief  is  the  doer  of 
it,"  had  not  been  before  questioned  for  nearly 
a  hundred  generations. 

The  same  proposition  was  insisted  upon  in 
the  brief  of  the  anarchists  before  the  Supreme 
Court,  when  Mr,  Foster  was  no  longer  con- 
nected with  the  case.  I  copy  extracts :  "  The 
instructions  given  for  the  people  were  errone- 
ous in  assuming  that  there  is  in  law  such  a 
thing  as  advice  to  commit  murder,  without 
designating  the  victim,  time,  place,  or  occa- 
sion ;  in  other  words,  that  mere  general  advice 
to  the  public  at  large  to  commit  deeds  of  vio- 
lence as  contained  in  speeches  or  publica- 
tions, without  reference  to  the  particular  crime 
charged,  and  without  specifying  object,  man- 
ner, time,  or  place,  works  responsibility  as  for 
murder,  ,  .  .  A  man  might  cry  out  in  the  pub- 
he  streets  :  *  Kill,  kill;  murder,  murder,'  by  the 
day  and  by  the  hour,  and  would  not  advise 
murder  in  contemplation  of  law.  Unless  he 
designated  the  victim,  the  means,  the  manner, 
time,  or  place,  he  has  not  done  sufficient  by  his 
outcries  alone  to  become  amenable  to  the  law 
as  an  accessory  before  the  fact  to  the  crime  of 
murder." 

Mr.  Black,  speaking  of  the  approach  of  the 
police,  said  to  the  jury  :  "  In  disregard  of  our 
constitutional  rights  as  citizens,  it  was  proposed 
to  order  the  dispersal  of  a  peaceable  meeting. 
Has  it  come  to  pass  that  under  the  Constitu- 
tion of  the  United  States  and  of  this  State,  our 
meetings  for  the  discussion  of  grievances  are  sub- 
ject to  be  scattered  to  the  winds  at  the  breath 
of  a  petty  police  officer  ?  Can  they  take  into  their 
hands  the  law  ?  If  so,  that  is  anarchy;  the  chaos 
of  constitutional  right  and  legally  guaranteed 
liberty.  I  ask  you  again,  charging  no  legal  re- 
sponsibility here,  but  looking  at  the  man  who 
is  morally  at  fault  for  the  death-harvest  of  that 
night,  who  brought  it  on  ?  Would  it  have  been 
but  for  the  act  of  Bonfield  ?  " 

The  duty  of  the  police  to  disperse  a  meet- 
ing at  which  Fielden  was  telling  the  crowd  to 


throtde,  kill,  stab  the  law,  I  have  shown.  It 
was  the  report,  brought  by  a  detective  to  the 
pohce  stadon,  of  this  part  of  Fielden's  speech 
that  started  Bonfield,  with  the  police  under  his 
command. 

Free  speech !  Martyrs  for  free  speech, 
whose  "  constitutional  right  and  legally  guar- 
anteed liberty  "  to  hold  in  the  public  streets  of 
a  great  city,  after  ten  o'clock  at  night,  meet- 
ings at  which  they  might  cry  "  Kill,  kill ;  mur- 
der, murder  "  (and  be  guiltless  of  natural  and 
probable  consequences  of  their  advice  and 
persuasions),  were  ruthlessly  invaded  by  "  the 
law-and-order  beast "  ! 

After  the  verdict  the  defendants  moved  for 
a  new  trial.  By  consent  of  counsel  on  both 
sides,  all  nearly  exhausted  by  their  labors,  the 
discussion  of  that  motion  was  postponed  to  the 
October  term. 

I  have  said  that  "the  active  leaders  were  men 
who  fascinated,  apparently,  those  with  whom 
they  came  in  contact."  For  two  reasons  I 
must  copy  part  of  a  letter  from  Mrs.  Black, 
dated  September  22,  1886,  to  the  editor  of  the 
Chicago  "  Daily  News,"  and  printed  in  that 
paper  the  next  day, —  first  as  an  instance  of 
that  fascination,  and  second,  because  a  part  of 
what  I  said  to  the  defendants,  all  of  which  later  I 
shall  copy,  would  lose  its  force  to  a  reader  igno- 
rant of  her  letter.  I  should  hke  to  copy  the  whole 
letter,  but  can  quote  only  extracts,  as  the  whole 
is  more  than  two  thousand  words :  "  I  had 
never  known  an  anarchist,  did  not  know  what 
the  term  meant,  until  my  husband  became  coun- 
sel for  the  defense  of  the  men  accused  of  the 
murder  of  Matt  J.  Degan,  the  policeman  killed 
at  the  Haymarket  on  the  night  of  May  4.  .  .  . 
Like  every  one  I  knew,  I  felt  a  horror  for  the 
tragic  events  of  that  eventful  night.  ...  As 
for  pitying  the  men  accused  of  these  deaths, 
my  mind  only  revolted  in  horror ;  and  though, 
by  Christian  sentiment  and  principle  opposed 
to  capital  punishment,  I  almost  wondered  that 
lynch-law  did  not,  with  its  barbaric  and  dis- 
graceful savagery,  bring  a  blush  to  our  civic 
cheeks.  .  .  .  But  one  day  one  came  to  speak 
for  that  side  which  so  long  had  been  unheard, — 
the  accused, —  and  I  found  out  that,  as  to 
everytliing,  there  are  two  sides  to  this.  When  I 
learned  the  facts  I  became  assured  in  my  own 
mind  that  the  wrong  men  had  been  arrested, 
and  thrown  into  cells,  and  subjected  to  the 
most  horrible  treatment.  ...  I  came  to  know 
so  many  terrible  secrets  that  I  often  questioned 
whether  I  still  trod  this  humanized  earth,  or 
whether  Satan's  cohorts  had,  by  some  evil 
chance,  taken  possession  of  man's  habitation 
and  heart.  .  .  .  During  all  that  long  trial  a 
kind  of  soul  crucifixion  was  imposed  upon  me. 
Often,  as  I  took  up  one  or  the  other  of  the 
daily  papers,  I  would  recall  reverently  those 


834 


THE   CHICAGO  ANARCHISTS   OF  1886. 


words  of  my  divine  Master  :  '  For  which  of  my 
good  works  do  you  stone  me  ? '  .  .  ,  The  labor 
party  is  about  to  appear  simultaneously  all  over 
the  earth.  These  anarchists  are  the  advance- 
guard.  Call  them,  if  you  choose,  the  forlorn 
hope;  but  whatever  you  do,  citizen  of  to-day, 
cease  your  attacks  upon  these  men.  You  can- 
not afford  to  revenge  yourselves  upon  them 
at  the  price  it  will  cost.  ...  I  know  that 
capital  says, '  We  have  the  army,  the  militia, 
artillery,  and  the  most  improved  weapons  for 
disciplined  men ' ;  but  oh,  my  God !  what  is 
that  before  even  ten  thousand  men  with  dyna- 
mite bombs  ?  your  army  would  sigh  no  more 
after  but  one  volley  of  bombs,  and  there  are 
worse  things  in  the  knowledge  of  all  the  labor 
party  now.  Let  us  then  deal  justly.  .  .  .  An- 
archy is  simply  a  human  effort  to  bring  about 
the  millennium.  Why  do  we  want  to  hang 
men  for  that,  when  every  pulpit  has  thundered 
that  the  time  is  near  at  hand  ?  .  .  .  I  tell  you 
that  if  you  hang  these  men  it  will  precipitate  a 
civil  war  which,  because  of  scientific  discovery^ 
will  soon  depopulate  the  earth.  .  .  .  Recollect, 
I  am  not  an  anarchist.  But  I  am  an  ardent 
advocate  of  the  rights  of  the  workingmen, 
in  common  with  every  other  citizen,  to  meet 
and  make  speeches, —  ay,  and  to  defend  them- 
selves against  interference  or  interruption,  as 
guaranteed  by  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,  that  grand  old  instrument  now  being 
infringed  upon  and  insulted." 

It  will  be  remembered  that  the  motion  for 
a  new  trial  was,  at  the  time  that  letter  ap- 
peared, soon  to  come  on  before  me.  It  did 
come  on,  took  a  week,  and  was  then  denied. 
A  part  of  what  I  then  said  is  as  follows :  "  In 
passing  upon  this  motion  for  a  new  trial,  the 
case  is  so  voluminous,  and  there  is  such  a  mass 
of  evidence,  that  it  is  impossible  within  any 
reasonable  limit  to  give  a  synopsis  or  epitome 
of  it.  I  do  not  understand  that,  either  upon 
the  trial  before  the  jury,  or  upon  the  argument 
of  the  motion  before  me,  there  has  been  any 
argument  tending,  or  intended,  to  deny  that 
all  of  the  defendants,  except  Neebe,  were  par- 
ties to  whatever  purpose  or  object  there  was 
in  view ;  that  the  other  seven  were  combined 
for  some  purpose.  .  .  .  What  it  is,  is  a  matter 
which  the  counsel  have  debated  and  argued 
before  the  jury,  and  before  me.  Now  it  is  im- 
portant to  know  what  that  object  was ;  whether 
it  was,  as  counsel  for  the  defendants  have  stated 
here,  merely  to  encourage  workingmen  to  re- 
sist if  unlawful  attacks  were  made  upon  them, 
or  whether  it  was  something  else.  There  is  no 
way  of  ascertaining  so  clearly  what  the  object 
was,  as  to  read  what  the  defendants  themselves 
have  spoken  and  printed  as  to  their  objects 
while  the  events  were  transpiring.  Now,  from 
the  files  of  the  newspapers,  which  go  back  a 


good  ways,  a  great  deal  can  be  taken,  which 
must  of  necessity  be  taken  as  the  truth  of  what 
their  object  was." 

Then  I  read  from  the  "  Arbeiter  "  and  "The 
Alarm  "  at  considerable  length,  and  proceeded : 
"  Now,  in  addition  to  all  these  papers,  there  is 
the  testimony  of  witnesses  as  to  the  various 
speeches  which  were  made,  and  the  conclu- 
sion is  irresistible  that  the  combination  which, 
so  far  as  we  see  here,  began  in  1884,  was  a 
combination  which  had  for  its  purpose  the 
changing  of  the  existing  order  of  society,  the 
overthrow  of  the  government,  and  the  abolition 
of  all  law.  There  can  be  no  question  in  the 
mind  of  any  man  who  reads  these  articles,  and 
hears  what  speeches  were  made,  that  that  was 
the  object  long  before  any  eight-hour  move- 
ment was  talked  about,  and  then  that  the 
eight-hour  movement  which  they  advocated 
was  but  a  means  in  their  estimation  toward 
the  end  which  they  sought,  and  that  the  eight- 
hour  movement  was  not  the  primary  considera- 
tion with  them  at  all.  The  papers  and  the 
speeches  furnish  the  answer  to  the  argument 
of  counsel  that  what  they  proposed  was  simply 
that  they  should  arm  themselves  so  as  to  resist 
any  unlawful  attacks  which  the  police  or  militia 
might  make  upon  them,  because  these  articles, 
as  well  as  Spies's  own  account  of  the  McCor- 
mick  affair,  all  show  that  what  they  claimed 
with  reference  to  the  eight-hour  movement,  or 
in  reference  to  strikes,  was,  that  if  employers 
chose  to  employ  other  men  in  the  place  of 
those  who  had  struck  for  any  cause — wages 
or  hours —  that  the  employment  of  other  men 
must  be  prevented  by  force ;  and  if  the  pohce 
then  undertook  to  resist  the  force  that  was  used 
to  prevent  the  employment  of  other  men,  that 
was  the  ground  upon  which  the  police  or  mili- 
tia, or  whoever  exercised  that  force,  might  be  de- 
stroyed. Now,  there  can  be  no  claim  that  that 
is  a  lawful  object.  There  can  be  no  claim  but 
that  force  used  to  the  extent  of  taking  human 
life  in  carrying  out  that  object  is  murder.  It  is 
impossible  for  any  man  to  argue  that  any  set  of 
men  have  the  right  to  dictate  to  other  men 
whether  they  shall  work  or  not  for  a  particular  in- 
dividual, and  if  they  choose  to  work  in  defiance 
of  that  dictation,  to  drive  them  off  by  force,  and 
if  the  police  undertake  to  prevent  the  use  of 
that  force,  then  they  have  the  right  to  kill  the 
police.  It  is  impossible  to  contend  for  any 
such  principle  as  that.  They  say  constantly 
that  the  majority  must  be  overcome  by  force; 
that  they  have  no  hope  of  overcoming  the 
majority  by  winning  them  over  to  their  side, 
but  they  must  annihilate  them  by  force.  Now, 
there  is  no  doubt  that  is  murder,  and  there 
is  no  room  for  any  argument  that  as  to  seven 
of  these  defendants  they  were  not  in  that  com- 
bination, whatever  the  object  of  it  was." 


THE   CHICAGO  ANARCHISTS   OF  1886. 


835 


After  reviewing  the  evidence  as  to  Neebe, 
I  continued :  "  Now,  on  the  question  of  the 
instructions,  whether  these  defendants,  any  of 
them,  did  anticipate  or  expect  the  throwing 
of  the  bomb  on  the  night  of  the  fourth  of  May, 
is  not  a  question  which  I  need  to  consider, 
because  the  conviction  cannot  be  sustained, 
if  that  is  necessary  to  a  conviction,  however 
much  evidence  of  it  there  may  be,  because 
the  instructions  do  not  go  upon  that  ground. 
The  jury  were  not  instructed  to  find  the  de- 
fendants guilty  if  they  beheved  that  they  par- 
ticipated in  the  throwing  of  tljj^t  bomb,  or 
encouraged  or  advised  the  throwing  of  that 
bomb,  or  had  knowledge  that  it  was  to  be 
thrown,  or  anything  of  that  sort.  The  con- 
viction has  not  gone  upon  the  ground  that 
they  did  have  actually  any  personal  participa- 
tion in  the  particular  act  which  caused  the 
death  of  Degan ;  but  the  conviction  proceeds 
upon  the  ground,  under  the  instructions,  that 
they  had  generally  by  speech  and  print  advised 
large  classes  of  the  people,  not  particular  in- 
dividuals, but  large  classes,  to  commit  murder, 
and  have  left  the  commission,  the  time,  and 
place,  and  when,  to  the  individual  will  and 
whim  or  caprice,  or  whatever  it  may  be,  of 
each  individual  man  who  listened  to  their  ad- 
vice, and  that  in  consequence  of  that  advice, 
in  pursuance  of  that  advice,  and  influenced  by 
that  advice,  somebody  not  known  did  throw 
the  bomb  that  caused  Degan's  death.  Now,  if 
that  is  not  a  correct  principle  of  law,  then  the 
defendants,  of  course,  are  entitled  to  a  new  trial. 
This  case  is  without  precedent.  There  is  no 
example  in  the  law-books  of  a  case  of  this  sort. 
No  such  occurrence  has  ever  happened  before 
in  the  history  of  the  world.  I  suppose  that  in 
the  Lord  George  Gordon  riots  we  may,  per- 
haps, find  something  like  this,  but  Lord  George 
Gordon  was  indicted  for  treason,  and  the  gov- 
ernment failed  in  its  proofs  upon  the  trial  as  to 
what  he  had  done.  Very  likely  they  did  not 
want  to  prove  it  very  strongly  against  him.  I 
do  not  know;  it  is  none  of  my  business." 

I  then  read  the  section  of  the  statute  as  to 
accessories,  and  proceeded :  "  Now,  if  it  can 
be  ascertained  that,  in  fact,  the  throwing  of 
the  bomb  was  in  pursuance  of  their  advice, 
and  influenced  by  their  advice, —  when  I  say 
their  advice,  of  course  the  advice  of  one  is 
the  advice  of  all,  because  if  the  conspiracy 
is  established,  then  whatever  either  did  is  the 
act  of  each  one, —  if,  in  fact,  it  could  be  estab- 
hshed  that  the  throwing  of  the  bomb  was  the 
act  of  the  person  who  did  it,  in  pursuance  of 
their  advice,  and  under  the  influence  of  their 
advice,  why,  it  seems  to  me  that  there  would 
be  no  room  for  question  that  w^hoever  gave  the 
advice  would  be  guilty  of  the  consequences 
which  followed  the  giving  of  that  advice.    So 


that  if  I  am  correct  as  to  that,  then  the  ques- 
tion comes  back, —  whether  it  can  be  proved; 
whether  the  thing  itself  is  susceptible  of  such 
proof,  when  the  man  himself  who  threw  the 
bomb  cannot  be  identified ;  whether  in  point 
of  law  there  is  such  an  impossibility  of  proof 
that  that  individual  tlirew  it  in  pursuance  of 
their  advice,  that  the  instruction  cannot  be 
right." 

I  have  already  stated  that  the  meetings  of 
the  anarchists  were  mosdy  held  in  beer-saloons 
or  halls  adjacent.  No.  54  West  Lake  street  was 
such  a  i)lace.  This  fact  suggested  my  illustra- 
tion as  follows  :  "  Perhaps  I  can  make  my  view 
upon  that  subject  clearer  by  an  illustration. 
Suppose  that  the  radical  temperance  men 
should,  for  a  long  period  of  time,  by  speeches 
and  publications,  declare  that  there  was  no  hope 
of  stopping  the  evils  of  the  liquor  traffic,  ex- 
cept by  blowing  up  saloons  and  killing  saloon- 
keepers; that  it  was  u.seless  to  expect  any 
reform  by  legislation ;  that  no  prohibition 
laws,  nor  high-license  laws,  nor  any  other  laws 
would  have  any  effect  in  their  estimation,  and 
that  therefore  they  must  blow  up  the  saloons 
and  kill  the  saloon-keepers, —  and  justify  that 
course ;  suppose  that,  in  addition  to  that,  they 
taught  means  by  which  saloons  could  be  blown 
up  and  saloon-keepers  killed,  and  then  called 
a  meeting  in  West  Lake  street,  in  front  of  No. 
54  West  Lake,  and  while  some  speakers  were 
denouncing  the  liquor  traffic,  and  sa}dng  to 
an  audience,  'If  you  are  ready  to  do  any- 
thing, do  it  without  making  any  idle  threat,' 
and  another  speaker  says, '  Throtde,  kill,  stab 
the  saloon  business,  or  it  will  kill,  throttle,  and 
stab  you,'  and  then,  while  that  speaking  is  go- 
ing on,  some  unknown  man  out  of  the  crowd, 
with  a  bomb  of  the  manufacture  of  the  tem- 
perance men,  explodes  No.  54  Lake  street, 
and  kills  the  occupants  of  the  house, —  I  ap- 
prehend that  none  of  the  parties  who  are  ob- 
jecting to  the  insufficiency  of  this  proof  in  this 
case  would  have  any  hesitation  in  saying  that 
the  men  who  had  advised  that  conduct  were 
guilty  of  it." 

After  reviewing  at  considerable  length  the 
evidence,  I  continued :  "  If  a  thing  can  be 
proved  by  circumstantial  evidence,  that  is 
true ;  that  the  act  of  throwing  that  bomb  was 
in  consequence  of,  in  puKuance  of,  influenced 
by,  this  teaching,  this  advice,  by  speech  and 
print  for  a  course  of  two  years,  that  a  man 
should  thro\v  a  bomb;  the  disposition  in  him 
to  throw  it,  produced  by  the  teachings  of  these 
defendants,  cannot  be  questioned.  ...  It  is 
the  frequent  boast  of  people  who  profess  to 
admire  the  common  law  that  it  adapts  itself; 
that  its  principles  are  so  adapted  to  human 
nature  that  as  new  events,  new  circumstances, 
new  combinations  arise ;  new  inventions,  new 


836 


THE    CHICAGO  ANARCHISTS   OF  1886. 


forms  of  industry ;  the  common  law,  that  the 
common  law  has  principles  which  may  be  ap- 
plied to  new  events  and  circumstances;  and 
the  principle  here  applies,  that  if  it  is  proved, 
so  that  a  jury  must,  if  they  draw  a  reasonable 
conclusion,  beheve  that  the  man  who  threw 
that  bomb  was  acting  under  the  influence  of 
this  advice,  then  the  defendants  are  all  guilty ; 
and  if  so,  if  that  is  the  law,  then  the  instruc- 
tions are  all  right." 

I  expect,  if  my  article  receives  any  attention 
from  anarchists  or  their  sympathizers,  that  it 
will  be  garbled,  and  that  I  shall  be  misrepre- 
sented. It  is  for  that  reason  that  I  quote,  and 
do  not  undertake  to  condense  or  poHsh,  what 
I  said.  There  shall  be  no  ground  to  say  that 
this  paper  contains,  not  the  theories  applied 
at  the  trial,  but  afterthoughts. 

On  the  trial  Spies,  Schwab,  Fielden,and  Par- 
sons had  taken  the  stand  as  witnesses.  Engel, 
Fischer,  Lingg,  and  Neebe  kept  off;  no  doubt 
their  counsel  acted  wisely  in  not  putting 
them  on. 

After  the  motion  for  a  new  trial  was  denied, 
I  said :  "  Prisoners  at  the  bar :  For  the  first 
time  during  this  painful  and  protracted  pro- 
ceeding it  is  my  duty  to  speak  to  you,  and  call 
upon  you,  individually  and  separately,  now  to 
say,  whether  you  have  anything  to  say  why 
sentence  should  not  be  passed  upon  you,  ac- 
cording to  the  verdict  of  the  jury."  And  then 
each  of  the  defendants  addressed  me,  occupy- 
ing three  days. 

As  Parsons,  the  last  who  spoke,  sat  down,  I 
said :  "  I  am  quite  well  aware  that  what  you 
have  said,  although  addressed  to  me,  has  been 
said  to  the  world ;  yet  nothing  has  been  said 
which  weakens  the  force  of  the  proof,  or  the 
conclusions  therefrom  upon  which  the  verdict 
is  based.  You  are  all  men  of  intelligence,  and 
know  that,  if  the  verdict  stands,  it  must  be 
executed.  The  reasons  why  it  shall  stand,  I 
have  already  sufficiently  stated  in  deciding  the 
motion  for  a  new  trial.  I  am  sorry,  beyond  any 
power  of  expression,  for  your  unhappy  con- 
dition, and  for  the  terrible  events  that  have 
brought  you  to  it.  I  shall  address  to  you 
neither  reproaches  nor  exhortations.  What  I 
shall  say  will  be  said  in  the  faint  hope  that  a 
few  words  from  a  place  where  the  people  of 
the  State  of  Illinois  have  delegated  the  author- 
ity to  declare  the  penalty  of  a  violation  of 
their  laws,  and  spoken  upon  an  occasion  so 
solemn  and  awful  as  this,  may  come  to  the 
knowledge  of,  and  be  heeded  by,  the  ignorant, 
deluded,  and  misguided  men  who  have  lis- 
tened to  your  counsels  and  followed  your  ad- 
vice. I  say  in  the  faint  hope ;  for  if  men  are 
persuaded  that  because  of  business  differences, 
whether  about  labor  or  anything  else,  they  may 
destroy  property,  and  assault  and  beat  other 


men,  and  kill  the  police,  if  they,  in  the  dis- 
charge of  their  duty,  interfere  to  preserve  the 
peace,  there  is  little  ground  to  hope  that  they 
will  hsten  to  any  warning. 

"  Not  the  least  am.ong  the  hardships  of  the 
peaceable,  frugal,  and  laborious  poor,  it  is  to 
endure  the  tyranny  of  mobs,  who  with  lawless 
force  dictate  to  them,  under  penalty  of  peril  to 
limb  and  life,  where,  when,  and  upon  what 
terms  they  may  earn  a  livelihood  for  themselves 
and  their  families.  Any  government  that  is 
worthy  of  the  name  will  strenuously  endeavor 
to  secure  to^ll  within  its  jurisdiction  freedom 
to  follow  their  lawful  avocations  in  safety  for 
their  property  and  their  persons  while  obeying 
the  law. 

"And  the  law  is  common  sense. 

"  It  holds  each  man  responsible  for  the  nat- 
ural and  probable  consequences  of  his  own 
acts.  It  holds  that  whoever  advises  murder, 
is  himself  guilty  of  the  murder  that  is  com- 
mitted pursuant  to  his  advice;  and  if  men 
band  together  for  forcible  resistance  to  the 
execution  of  the  law,  and  advise  murder  as  a 
means  of  making  such  resistance  effectual, 
whether  such  advice  be  to  one  man  to  murder 
another,  or  to  a  numerous  class  to  murder  men 
of  another  class,  all  who  are  so  banded  to- 
gether are  guilty  of  any  murder  that  is  com- 
mitted in  pursuance  of  such  advice. 

"  The  people  of  this  country  love  their  in- 
stitutions. They  love  their  homes.  They  love 
their  property.  They  will  never  consent  that 
by  violence  and  murder  those  institutions  shall 
be  broken  down,  their  homes  despoiled,  and 
their  property  destroyed.  And  the  people  are 
strong  enough  to  protect  and  sustain  their  in- 
stitutions, and  to  punish  all  offenders  against 
their  laws ;  and  those  who  threaten  danger  to 
civil  society,  if  the  law  is  enforced,  are  leading 
to  destruction  whoever  may  attempt  to  exe- 
cute such  threats. 

"  The  existing  order  of  society  can  be 
changed  only  by  the  will  of  the  majority. 

"  Each  man  has  the  full  right  to  entertain, 
and  advocate  by  speech  and  print,  such  opin- 
ions as  suit  himself;  and  the  great  body  of  the 
people  will  usually  care  little  what  he  says; 
iDut  if  he  proposes  murder  as  a  means  of  en- 
forcing them,  he  puts  his  own  life  at  stake; 
and  no  clamor  about  free  speech,  or  evils  to 
be  cured,  or  wrongs  to  be  redressed,  will  shield 
him  from  the  consequences  of  his  crime.  His 
liberty  is  not  a  license  to  destroy.  The  tolera- 
tion that  he  enjoys  he  must  extend  to  others, 
and  not  arrogantly  assume  that  the  great  ma- 
jority are  wrong,  and  may  rightly  be  coerced 
by  terror  or  removed  by  dynamite. 

"It  only  remains  that  for  the  crime  you  have 
committed,  and  of  which  you  have  been  con- 
victed after  a  trial  unexampled  in  the  patience 


THE    CHICAGO  ANARCHISTS   OF  1886. 


837 


with  which  an  outraged  people  have  extended 
to  you  every  protection  and  privilege  of  the 
law  which  you  derided  and  defied,  the  sen- 
tence of  that  law  be  now  pronounced.  In 
form  and  detail  that  sentence  will  appear  upon 
the  records  of  the  court.  In  substance  and 
effect  it  is  that  the  defendant  Neebe  be  im- 
prisoned in  the  State  Penitentiary  at  Joliet  at 
hard  labor  for  the  term  of  fifteen  years;  and 
that  each  of  the  other  defendants,  between  the 
hours  of  ten  o'clock  in  the  forenoon  and  two 
o'clock  in  the  afternoon  of  the  third  day  of 
December  next,  in  the  manner  provided  by 
the  statute,  be  hung  by  the  neck  until  he  is 
dead." 

Then  to  the  bailiffs :  "  Remove  the  pris- 
oners." 

Thus  ended,  on  the  ninth  day  of  October, 
1886,  the  trial  of  the  anarchists. 

The  case  went  to  the  Supreme  Court,  where 
the  judgment  of  the  Criminal  Court  was  af- 
firmed, and  the  opinion  of  the  Supreme  Court, 
prepared  by  Mr.  Justice  Benjamin  D.  Magru- 
der,  was  filed  September  14,  1887. 

Prophecy  was  fulfilled.  Just  a  hundred 
years  before  some  one  of  the  days  on  which 
Judge  Magruder  was  engaged  in  the  prepara- 
tion of  that  opinion,  the  citizens  of  Philadel- 
phia, rejoicing  over  the  adoption  of  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  United  States,  by  which  a  loose 
confederacy  was  welded  into  a  great  nation, 
carried  in  precession  a  banner  on  which  Avere 
these  lines : 

The  crimes  and  frauds  of  Anarchy  shall  fail ; 
Returning  Justice  lifts  aloft  her  scale. 

To  state,  without  going  into  particulars,  that 
the  sentences  of  Schwab  and  Fielden  were  com- 
muted to  imprisonment  for  life,  that  Lingg  by 
suicide,  one  day  before,  escaped  hanging,  is 
enough. 

The  Supreme  Court  had,  in  pursuance  of 
the  statute,  fixed  another  day  for  the  execu- 
tion, the  one  first  fixed  having  passed.  On 
the  eleventh  day  of  November,  1887,  the  other 
defendants  who  had  been  sentenced  to  death 
were  executed;  on  the  13th,  Mr.  Black,  who 
had  been  called  to  speak  over  their  graves,  and 


the  grave  of  Lingg,  said:  "...  I  loved  these 
men.  I  knew  them  not  until  I  came  to  know 
them  in  the  time  of  their  sore  travail  and 
anguish.  As  months  went  by  and  I  found  in  the 
lives  of  those  with  whom  I  talked  the  witness 
of  their  love  for  the  people,  of  their  patience, 
gentleness,  and  courage,  my  heart  was  taken 
captive  in  their  cause.  .  .  .  I  say  that  what- 
ever of  fault  may  have  been  in  them,  these,  the 
people  whom  they  loved  and  in  whose  cause 
they  died,  may  well  close  the  volume,  and  seal 
up  the  record,  and  give  our  lips  to  the  praise 
of  their  heroic  deeds,  and  their  sublime  self- 
sacrifice." 

If  these  words  have  any  meaning,  they  re- 
fer to  the  acts  of  the  anarchists  which  I  have, 
in  part,  told ;  "  the  people  whom  they  loved" 
they  deceived,  deluded,  and  endeavored  to 
convert  into  murderers ;  the  "  cause  they  died 
in "  was  rebellion,  to  prosecute  which  they 
taught  and  instigated  murder;  their  "heroic 
deeds  "  were  causeless,  wanton  murders  done; 
and  the  "sublime  self-sacrifice"  of  the  only 
one  to  whom  the  words  can  apply  was  suicide, 
to  escape  the  impending  penalty  of  the  law 
incurred  by  murder. 

For  nearly  seven  years  the  clamor,  uncon- 
tradicted, has  gone  round  the  world  that  the 
anarchists  were  heroes  and  martyrs,  victims 
of  prejudice  and  fear.  Not  a  dozen  persons 
alive  were  prepared  by  familiarity  with  the  de- 
tails of  their  crime  and  trial,  and  present  know- 
ledge of  the  materials  from  which  those  details 
could  be  shown,  to  present  a  succinct  account 
of  them  to  the  pubhc.  It  so  happened  that  my 
position  was  such  that  from  me  that  account 
would  probably  attract  as  much  attention  as 
it  would  from  any  other  source.  Right-minded, 
thoughtful  people,  who  recognize  the  necessity 
to  civilization  of  the  existence  and  enforcement 
of  laws  for  the  protection  of  human  life,  and 
who  yet  may  have  had  misgivings  as  to  the  fate 
of  the  anarchists,  will,  I  trust,  read  what  I  have 
written,  and  dismiss  those  misgivings,  con- 
vinced that  in  law  and  in  morals  the  anar- 
chists were  rightly  punished,  not  for  opinions, 
but  for  horrible  deeds. 

Joseph  E.  Gary. 


THE    CASH    CAPITAL    OF    SUNSET    CITY. 


HEN  the  long  winter  had 
closed  down  around  Sunset 
City,  stopping  the  railroad 
trains,  cutting  it  off  from  the 
world,  and  leaving  it  like  an 
island  in  the  great  shifting 
sea  of  snow,  the  available, 
active,circulatingcash  capi- 
tal was  estimated  by  Judge  Longsby  at  $240. 
True,  there  was  more  money  than  this  in  the 
ambitious  city  of  Sunset.  Untold  wealth  was 
said  to  nestle  in  the  vaults  of  the  Bank  of  the 
Metropolis;  H.  R.  Dodge,  the  proprietor  of 
the  Red-Front  Dry-Goods  Emporium,  was 
reputed  to  have  a  safe  bursting  with  money ; 
Mrs.  Stebbins  of  the  Frontier  Hotel  was  said 
to  have  a  tin  coffee-pot  full  of  the  most  genuine 
and  unmistakable  money :  but  this  capital  was 
tied  up, —  withdrawn  from  circulation,  and  in 
the  hands  of  capitalists  and  other  dangerous 
members  of  society, —  and  $240  remained,  on 
the  closest  estimates,  as  the  actual  amount  of 
the  circulating  medium  available  for  business 
purposes  at  the  Two  Orphans,  the  popular 
liquor  and  gaming  establishment  conducted  by 
Mr.  Mart  Hawkins.  Perhaps  this  amount  was 
not  so  discreditable  to  Sunset  when  we  re- 
member that  the  city,  though  lusty  and  am- 
bitious, was  scarcely  six  months  old. 

The  winter  shut  down  on  Sunset  City  with 
a  snap.  The  people  arose  one  dark  December 
morning,  and  found  an  east  wind  sifting  down 
great  flakes  of  soft  snow.  The  air  was  damp 
and  chilly,  and  the  clouds  hung  only  a  little  way 
above  the  low  buildings.  There  was  a  nameless, 
homesick  feehng  in  the  air.  The  nearest  town 
by  railroad,  which,  although  thirty  miles  away, 
had  always  seemed  so  close  and  neighborly,  now 
seemed  to  be  far  away,  and  to  lose,  as  it  were, 
its  personality.  After  a  while  people  began  to 
speak  of  it  in  a  vague,  general  way,  as  of  a  place 
they  had  heard  of  and  believed  to  exist,  but  had 
never  seen,  like  Pekin  or  Calcutta ;  and  in  time 
some  found  themselves  wondering  if,  after  all, 
their  nearest  neighbors  did  not  lie  to  the  west, 
across  the  two  hundred  miles  of  uninhabited 
Indian  reservation. 

The  first  day  of  the  snow  wore  away,  but  it 
never  ceased  to  fall,  and  quick,  angry  gusts 
of  wind,  now  more  from  the  northeast,  gradu- 
ally began  to  dart  around  the  comer,  and  to 
toss  up  the  snow  in  sullen  little  eddies.  Every 
inhabitant  of  Sunset  knew  in  his  heart  that 
the  regular  tri-weekly  "  mixed  "  train  on  the 
Great  Western  road,  due  that  afternoon  at  four 
o'clock,  would  not  come ;  but  nobody  said  so, 
838 


and  many  consoled  themselves  with  the  ob- 
servation that  they  "  guessed  she  'd  pull  through 
all  right,"  or  they  "  reckoned  it  was  'most  too 
early  yet  for  sure-enough  winter."  So,  when 
four  o'clock  came,  nine  tenths  of  the  men  of 
Sunset  were  at  the  railroad  station,  whereas 
usually  there  were  only  three  fourths  of  them 
present.  They  sat  about  in  the  waiting-room 
in  easy  attitudes  for  an  hour,  and  lied  on  Avhat- 
ever  subject  came  up,butnobody  said  anything 
about  the  train.  Occasionally  a  man  would 
glance  furtively  out  of  the  window  at  the  snow 
and  the  gathering  darkness,  and  then  he  would 
look  unconcerned, asifhehadhadno  particular 
object  in  view.  At  five  o'clock  the  telegraph 
instrument  in  the  next  room  began  to  click, 
and  a  hush  fell  upon  the  little  group  around  the 
stove.  In  a  moment  it  ceased,  and  the  operator 
was  heard  arranging  papers  and  books.  A  few 
of  the  weaker  ones  looked  toward  his  window 
with  its  sign  of  "Tickets,"  but  nobody  spoke. 
Then  the  operator  looked  out  and  said, "  Train 
suspended,"  and  shut  down  his  window  with 
a  bang.  The  men  rose  up,  and  started  for  the 
door.  Clay  Morgan  was  the  only  one  that  said 
anything.  I  take  the  liberty  to  soften  consider- 
ably the  strength  of  his  remark.  ^ 

"  Sufferin'  Moses!"  said  Mr.  Clay  Morgan, 
with  an  emphasis  which  swept  everything  be- 
fore it,  "  of  course  the  train  's  suspended. 
We  're  the  blankest  set  of  fools  that  ever  looked 
through  a  collar.  We  '11  see  that  'ere  train  about 
March;  that 's  when  we  '11  see  /ler." 

Two  or  three  attempted  to  laugh  feebly; 
then  they  went  out.  It  was  dark  now,  and  the 
snow  was  still  falling,  but  it  was  finer.  It  was 
growing  colder,  and  the  wind  pounced  around 
the  corner  upon  the  helpless  snow  with  greater 
frequency.  The  men  waded  along  in  single  file 
toward  the  cheerful  lights  of  the  Two  Orphans. 
They  went  in  at  the  door,  and  in  ten  minutes 
they  were  lost  in  the  calm,  restful  game  of 
draw-poker,  and  the  cash  capital  of  Sunset 
City  had  begun  its  local  travels. 

When  the  great,  grim  winter  closed  around 
the  httle  defenseless  city  of  Sunset,  it  impris- 
oned all  sorts  and  conditions  of  people — those 
who  had  passed  through  Dakota  winters  be- 
fore, and  those  who  knew  nothing  about  them  ; 
those  who  had  roughed  it  on  the  frontier,  and 
slept  in  tents,  and  in  covered  wagons,  and  un- 
der the  stars,  and  those  who  had  never  known 
anything  except  good  beds  and  warm  rooms. 
Among  others  shut  in  by  the  winter  was  a 
young  woman  with  dark  hair,  with  a  touch  of 
premature  gray  about  the  temples,  who  was 


G-27 


